Shadows on the Nile
by lucidscreamer
Summary: When Yugi's grandpa disappears after an earthquake in Egypt, Yugi rushes to the rescue. Stolen antiquities, a dangerous cult, and an intriguing Egyptologist named Yami only make things more complicated. AU, Yami/Yugi.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: The characters of _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi. I am only borrowing them for a bit of "no profit but the enjoyment of writing and reading" fun. This fanfic is a fusion with the romance novel _Night of the Nile_ by Lynn Leslie, published by Harlequin Intrigue. The original plot and characters belong to their respective creators. The snark is mine. This story follows the original plot fairly closely up until the ending where it diverges wildly thanks to the YGO elements I substituted for the original's mangling of the Osiris myth.

**Warnings**: Wildly AU (alternate universe). Contains male/male romance (Yami/Yugi). Romantic suspence.

**Notes:** I don't usually do author's notes, but this fic requires a bit of explaining. It is a romance novel with a bit of mystery/suspense thrown in, as well as some cracky!humor. If you hate Harlequin-style, love-at-first-sight romances, this is not the fic for you. And, even though he is cast as the story's "heroine", Yugi is most definitely not a "damsel in distress." My Yugi has a backbone. He even gets to rescue Yami a few times. ;) Also, while I realize there are plenty of real world obstacles for same-sex couples, I only wanted to write a light, mostly-humorous romantic adventure story. So, consider this story to take place in a part of Romancelandia where real world bigotry takes a backseat to plot convenience.

**Shadows on the Nile**

_A Yu-Gi-Oh! Romance Novel  
_By Lucidscreamer

Chapter 1

Yugi Mutou awoke with a shout. He bolted upright, cracking his head on the side of the computer monitor, and knocking over the half-empty bottle of melon Ramune on the desk beside it. In the wake of the dream, he didn't even notice the rivulet of green soda spilling toward his keyboard. Convinced he was about to be crushed beneath a ton of rock, he crouched in his chair, curled his arms protectively over his head, and tried to make himself as small as possible. As if _that_ would keep the ceiling from smashing him when it came down with the next tremor...

And then he realized -- the only thing shaking was _him_.

As quickly as the terror had come, it fled. He gulped air and tried to persuade his body he wasn't in danger of suffocating in subterranean darkness, then collapsed bonelessly back onto the desk. That was when he noticed the soda.

"Oh, shit!"

He made a frantic grab for his work notes, just in time to save them from death by Ramune, and swept them and the keyboard to safety. Digging in the deep bottom drawer of the desk, he found some paper take-out napkins and used them to clean up the sticky spill. He tossed the mess into the trashcan and slumped back in his chair. Only then did it occur to him to wonder why he had been dreaming about an earthquake.

He looked around. He had fallen asleep at his desk working on the modifications for the new game release. His soda had been the only casualty of the supposed quake, and that only because he had knocked it over in his panic. So, did that mean there hadn't been a real earthquake?

The computer was still on and his antics had awakened it from stand-by mode, so it only took a mouse-click to bring up the local news service webpage. There was nothing about a quake, either in Domino City or anywhere else in Japan. Only slightly reassured, he checked the international news -- and froze, staring at the headline. _"6.2 Earthquake Rocks Egypt_."

His heart pounding, he scanned the news item beneath the headline. There wasn't a lot of information; apparently, the earthquake had hit only a few hours ago. Had the quake triggered his nightmare? His grandpa was in Egypt -- and this wouldn't be the first time a dream had warned Yugi that someone was in danger.

Yugi's heart clenched painfully. He checked his email, but no new messages from Sugoroku Mutou waited in his inbox. He fired up the instant messenger, but his grandpa wasn't online. Yugi's fists clenched and he resisted the urge to pound the keyboard. The telephone sat next to the computer, so he tried calling the museum in Cairo where Sugoroku worked, but an automated message informed him the phone lines were down._ Dammit_. He had to find out if his grandpa was all right. Since his parents' deaths when he was twelve, Sugoroku was the only family Yugi had left...

Abandoning the computer, Yugi ran to grab his cell phone, then dashed up the stairs to his bedroom. He yanked his suitcase from the shelf in the closet, tossed it onto the unmade bed, and hit the speed dial with one hand as he began throwing random clothes into the suitcase with the other.

The phone rang once, and a surly voice snapped, "Do you have _any_ idea what time it is, Mutou?"

How had Seto known--? Oh, right. Caller I.D.

"Not really." Yugi glanced at the bedside clock, then squinted at the numbers to make certain he wasn't seeing things. Well, that explained why Seto was even grumpier than usual. "Sorry. Look, I won't be coming in to work today. Or tomorrow. Uh, maybe not for the rest of the week."

"You called me at four in the fucking morning to tell me you're taking an unscheduled vacation the day before the release of the new Duel Disk system, _and_ right in the middle of negotiations with Devlin for the acquisition of _Dungeon Dice Monsters_?" There was a lengthy pause, during which Yugi had no difficulty imagining the expression on his business partner's face. When Seto spoke again, it was to growl, "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you now."

"Um, I'm sure there'd be lots of paperwork?" It wasn't the best defense Yugi had ever mustered, but his mind wasn't really on the conversation. He threw a handful of clean socks at the suitcase. Some of them went in. "You hate paperwork."

"Paperwork builds character."

A couple of random t-shirts followed the socks. "Then why do you try so hard to avoid it?"

"I already have all the character I need." A thoughtful pause. "I'll get Mokuba to do it for me."

"The murder?"

"The paperwork. It'll be good for him." Paperwork dilemma solved, Seto turned back to the more pressing matter. "What's going on, Mutou? Why are you bailing out on me, and why couldn't you wait for a less homicide-inducing hour to tell me about it?"

"My grandpa's in trouble." Yugi didn't have any real proof that Sugoroku was in any kind of danger. He just knew it, as surely as he knew that the sun rose in the east. "I've got to go to Egypt and make sure he's okay."

"_Egypt?_ You're making even less sense than usual --"

"There was an earthquake." And a dream that seemed more sinister by the second. Yugi rubbed the center of his chest, still feeling the ache of straining lungs as he struggled to breathe stale, dusty air. "Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I _know_ he needs me, so I'm going to Egypt. Okay?"

"You 'know'." Seto's tone was flat. Yugi could practically see him rolling his icy blue eyes. "Is this more of that 'psychic' nonsense?"

"Yes, Seto. More of that psychic 'nonsense'," Yugi said, with far more patience than he actually felt. "The same psychic nonsense that told me where we'd find Mokuba that time he got kidnapped by those guys who wanted to take over your company. Remember?"

Ruminative silence. Then, reluctantly, "...I remember."

Two years ago, the board of directors of Kaiba Corporation had staged a hostile takeover -- of their own CEO -- by kidnapping said CEO's little brother. It had been a rough couple of days, most of which Yugi had spent trying to convince Seto Kaiba, a born skeptic if there ever was one, to listen to him. Fortunately, everything had turned out okay in the end, with Mokuba safe at home, the kidnappers under arrest -- and a tentative friendship starting to bud between Yugi and Seto. Mokuba took to Yugi like a second big brother and, eventually, Yugi's unrelenting good nature won Seto over. Seto preferred to claim that he had been _worn down_ rather than _won over_, but Seto was weird that way.

When Yugi came up with the idea for a card game based on images his grandpa had found in a tomb in Egypt, it seemed only reasonable for Seto to help get the idea off the ground. The two of them had become business partners, launched _Duel Monsters_ -- which had become an international hit almost overnight -- and the rest was gaming history.

Despite all that, Seto still liked to pretend things like psychic dreams only happened to other people -- specifically, people he _didn't_ know. Normally, Yugi would have been happy to let Seto have his delusions, but this was an emergency.

"I'm really sorry to do this on such short notice, but I don't have a choice. I've got to go find my grandpa. He could be hurt or--"

"_All right_," Seto interrupted. "I'll handle everything here. Just... don't do anything stupid, Mutou." He cleared his throat and added gruffly, "Mokuba would be upset if something happened to you. And if you upset Mokuba, I really _will_ have to kill you."

Yugi laughed. "Okay! I'll be careful. Thanks, Seto."

"Whatever." The phone clicked as the call disconnected.

Shaking his head, Yugi finished packing. He shoved a couple of manga magazines into a carry-on case, along with his phone, his passport, and -- on a whim -- the slim packet of letters his grandpa had written him from Egypt. He left the luggage on the bed, ran back downstairs to make travel arrangements over the internet, then back upstairs to take the world's fastest shower. In less than an hour, he was packed, dressed, and hauling his suitcases out to the taxi waiting for him at the curb.

The airports -- Domino City to Tokyo to Cairo International -- passed in a blur of long lines, baggage claims, and boredom. For once, he was glad of all the promotional traveling he did, since it meant his immunizations and passport were all up-to-date. After what felt like a million years, Yugi found himself hailing a taxi to take him to the Cairo Museum of Antiquities. He could barely keep his eyes open, but he figured he'd find his hotel after he checked with the Institute offices at the museum. Yugi hoped Sugoroku would be there, safe and well, but if he wasn't... Well, surely _someone_ there would know where he was.

The driver wove through Cairo's crowded streets with an abandon that left Yugi's heart lodged somewhere in his esophagus. He swallowed hard, paid the fare, then lugged his suitcases up the wide stone steps into the museum. Blinking as his eyes adjusted from bright sunlight to dim interior, he gazed around, and finally caught the eye of the man behind the information desk.

The man shook his head at the sight of Yugi's suitcases. "I'm sorry, but you are not allowed to bring your luggage into the museum."

Letting said luggage fall to the floor at his feet, Yugi sagged against the counter. "I'm looking for Dr. Sugoroku Mutou. I'm his grandson. Could you please direct me to the Institute offices here?"

"I'm afraid your grandfather is away." The man shrugged. "But I believe you may find his superior, Dr. Daniel Viridian, in the jewelry exhibition room -- just down that hall, then follow the signs. I will keep your luggage here for you while you are in the museum."

"Thank you." Yugi followed the directions through a maze of narrow hallways. Surely Dr. Viridian would know where Sugoroku was. Unless... Sugoroku had mentioned some sort of disagreement between himself and his superior over his theories about the Millennium Items. Before, the two had worked closely together despite their differences of opinion. Sugoroku had even been the one to give Dr. Viridian his famous moniker -- _Yami_, the Japanese word for darkness or shadow. Now, Yugi had to wonder. Just how serious had their falling out been? Would it be enough to cause Dr. Viridian to hinder Yugi's search?

Soon, Yugi came to a small room crowded with tall, old-fashioned, glass-and-wood display cases. There was only one person in the room, a man bent over an open case. This was the celebrated "Yami" Viridian? Of average height, or slightly below it, he was dressed in khaki cargo pants and a white shirt that clung to his torso enough to hint at lean muscles beneath the utilitarian cotton. Yugi only caught a hint of a handsome, tanned profile partially hidden by a thick mane of unruly, dark auburn hair. As Yugi watched, Dr. Viridian slipped something from the exhibit into his pants pocket, something that flashed gold in the light. A piece of jewelry, possibly a necklace?

Worried about his grandpa, Yugi didn't dwell too long on what he had seen. Viridian worked for the Institute; maybe he was taking the necklace for closer study elsewhere. All that mattered now was finding out if Dr. Viridian knew what had happened to Sugoroku Mutou.

------

Hearing footsteps, Yami spun around, the purloined necklace a heavy weight in his pocket -- and an even heavier one on his conscience. But it wasn't one of the museum's employees weaving his way between the display cases filled with ancient jewelry.

The figure was compact -- shorter than his own height by at least six inches -- and slender. He was dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt emblazoned with a graphic of a thin man in outrageous purple armor. A heavy leather watchband encircled one slim wrist. The other man's clothes were rumpled, as if he had slept in them, and his hair was in dire need of a comb. And what hair it was. The majority of it rose in black, red-tipped spikes that added a good three inches to his height, while bleached blond bangs jutted out stiffly around a sweetly rounded face. The look should have screamed "bad-ass punk, stay away." Instead, Yami found himself intrigued by the dichotomy of that face, with its huge amethyst eyes and inviting mouth, on someone with _that_ hair and _those_ clothes.

Even in the midst of crisis, he wanted to get to know this man. Hell, maybe he just _wanted_ him. If he had been less of a realist, Yami would have labeled it 'love at first sight.' He took a second look at the vision before him and corrected himself: it _was_ love at first sight. Or lust at first glimpse. One of those, for sure.

"Dr. Viridian? I'm Yugi Mutou."

Yami fought the urge to clutch at the talisman in his pocket. Instead, he shook Yugi's hand, his grip lingering a moment longer than was polite. He had never seen a photo of Sugoroku's grandson, but, now that he had heard the name, he recognized the family resemblance.

"Dr. Viridian, are you okay?"

Sure, he was. Except for that whole "staring at Yugi like an idiot while half his brain spun fantasies and the other half tried to figure out how to get Yugi out of Egypt before he got tangled up in Yami's current crisis" thing, he was peachy. He blurted out the first semi-coherent thought he could wrangle out of his misfiring synapses, which seemed to have decided to take a long lunch without his permission. "Yugi, what are you doing here?"

"I had to come. I'm very worried about my grandpa," Yugi said, peering up at Yami with wide, earnest eyes. "Can you tell me where he is?"

Before Yami could formulate a suitable, non-incriminating response, a new voice entered the conversation. "A question to which I, too, would like an answer. I've missed seeing Dr. Mutou around the Institute this last week or so."

_Isis_. Yami fumed. Where the hell had _she_ come from? Had she seen him take the necklace? He couldn't risk-- _Oh, hell_. What if _Yugi_ had seen him take it? And what must Yugi think of him if he had?

Yami's conscience twinged again. He had little choice in the matter, but he didn't like feeling like a thief. Which, he realized with a stab of chagrin, he _was_, as of about two minutes ago. The necklace felt as if it were burning a hole in his pocket. He was surprised no one else could feel the heat radiating from the cursed thing.

A thief... no better than a tomb robber, no better than Sugoroku, if the old fool really had taken the _Book of the Nameless Pharaoh _from the museum. Yami was beginning to suspect Sugoroku _had_ stolen it -- and so was Interpol. The knot of dread in his stomach tightened. Even worse, what if Sugoroku had gotten mixed up with those crazy cult people by choice? The old man was obsessed with the myth of the Millennium Items, willing to risk his reputation and their friendship in his quest for the truth. If the cultists offered him something he thought would validate his lifelong search, would he take it?

For all Yami knew, the alleged cult member who called him with the ransom demand might have _been_ Sugoroku. Even at the time, Yami had thought the whole business bizarre. Holding an archaeologist hostage in exchange for an artifact? The cult -- if it was the cult, and not Sugoroku himself -- didn't want money or unlikely political action. They wanted what they claimed was the Millennium Necklace. Or was it Sugoroku, using Yami to acquire the necklace for his own unfathomable purposes?

Yami's temples throbbed. This mess was getting worse by the moment. What a time for Yugi, the most intriguing man he had ever seen, to walk into his life. Clearly, Yami reflected, Fate hated him. He must have done something truly awful in a past life.

Speaking of awful... God's gift to Yami's bad day had joined them by the display case and was introducing herself to Yugi.

"Since Dr. Viridian seems to have forgotten his manners," Isis said, taking Yugi's hand and holding it in what Yami considered an overly familiar fashion, "allow me to introduce myself. I am Isis Ishtar, a humble inspector with the Supreme Council of Antiquities."

"Oh! Well, maybe you can help me? I'm trying to find my grandpa--"

Damn it all, was Yugi _blushing?_ Yami glared at Isis, who still hadn't let go of Yugi's hand. "Ms. Ishtar doesn't keep track of the Institute's staff. _I_ do." He thought fast. "Sugoroku isn't in Cairo at the moment. He's gone upriver. Near Luxor. On sabbatical until the dig next month."

"Does he have his cell phone with him?" Yugi's amethyst eyes practically shone with hope.

Yami swallowed. Those eyes should be registered as lethal weapons. The lie died, unspoken, on his lips. _Fuck_. He really was a goner, wasn't he? "I- I don't know," he stammered. "I haven't been able to reach him."

"Then I guess I'll just have to go upriver myself," Yugi said, with a determined lift of his chin. "I've always wanted to see Luxor. Once I find him, Grandpa and I can enjoy his vacation together. Thank you both for your help."

_Oh, crap_. When Yugi started to turn away, Yami reached out to stop him. Isis beat him to it. Yami stared at her hand on Yugi's arm and tried, unsuccessfully, not to growl. He crammed his hands in his pockets, and scowled at the man-stealing she-beast from hell.

"Mr. Mutou, please think for a moment," Isis said, in a soft, oh-so-reasonable tone that made Yami want to throw something. Preferably _at her_. His fingers clenched around the necklace. It had a solid heft to it, though the heavy amulet at its center might throw off the aerodynamics a bit. "You are a stranger to Egypt, and Luxor is nearer to the epicenter of the earthquake. It is not a safe place for you to travel at this time, especially alone."

Yugi faltered. He shifted so that his arm pulled free of Isis' grasp (Yami felt like cheering), then turned that hopeful look on Yami again. Yami tensed and tried to steel his heart against the entreaty in those large, expressive eyes. It didn't work this time either.

With a tentative little smile that did all kinds of interesting things to Yami's nervous system, Yugi asked, "What do _you_ think I should do, Dr. Viridian?"

_Marry me_, Yami thought, then had to bite his tongue to keep from blurting it out loud. What the hell was wrong with him, anyway? He couldn't be thinking of things like that at a time like this. But being around Yugi was intoxicating, like uncovering a treasure hidden for thousands of years. Unfortunately, Yugi was a treasure Yami couldn't have.

Shaking his head to clear it, Yami said, "I'm going to Luxor tomorrow. I'll find Sugoroku and have him call you at your hotel."

"I'm staying at the Mena House," Yugi said. He glanced from Isis to Yami, as if uncertain which of them was more reliable. Yami wished Isis would suddenly discover an urgent errand -- possibly on the dark side of the moon. "Um, do you think I could go with you, Dr. Viridian? To Luxor, I mean."

Feeling like a heel for what he was about to do, Yami nodded. He gazed down at his boots, unable to look Yugi in the eyes and lie. "Sure. I'll call you first thing in the morning with the details."

Yugi might be glassy-eyed with exhaustion, but he wasn't stupid. That much was obvious from the way he studied Yami's studiously blank expression for a long moment before he seemed satisfied. Then he smiled, and Yami's breath froze in his throat. It was worse than the eyes, by a factor of about a million. If Yugi's eyes were lethal, his smile was a weapon of mass destruction -- at least where Yami's heart was concerned.

"Thank you, Dr. Viridian. I'll be waiting for your call."

Yugi bestowed a final look on Yami that left him wanting to lunge after Yugi and promise to be a better person. Then, with a slight bounce in his step despite his obvious fatigue, Yugi headed back up the hallway. Isis and Yami watched him until he was out of sight. The two of them let out identical sighs, then turned to glare at each other.

"You know him well?" Isis asked, her sly tone setting Yami's teeth on edge. "I cannot believe you've never mentioned him to me... Though, perhaps, you thought to keep such a magnificent specimen to yourself? I can certainly understand if such is the case."

_I never liked you_, Yami thought, eyes narrowing. "I've never seen him before today."

"Truly?" She smiled -- a slow, syrupy smile designed to antagonize him. "And now that you have, what do you intend to do, I wonder? He doesn't seem to know anything about Dr. Mutou's misfortune."

Yami's grip on the necklace tightened so much the raised eye at its center bit into his palm. The heat of the thing burned his fingers. "What are you talking about?"

"Everyone is talking about the terrible theft of the _Book of the Nameless Pharaoh_. As I'm sure you're aware, having spoken to them yourself, Interpol is very interested in questioning Dr. Mutou. It seems likely they believe he has something to do with the missing papyri, does it not?"

"Interpol questioned the entire staff," Yami reminded her. His cold smile didn't reach his narrowed eyes. "Including me, as you've just alluded to."

"Of course. Dr. Mutou is your friend... I meant no offense." She dipped her head, but her eyes gave lie to the apology. "May your journey to Luxor be a safe one, Dr. Viridian."

Yami watched her glide from the room, his mind filled with equal parts worry and suspicion. Did she suspect the truth?Had she seen him take the necklace?

He pulled his hands from his pockets and flexed the left one, the hand that had been wrapped so tightly around the necklace. On his palm, the faint red outline of an Egyptian eye showed where the amulet had pressed deeply into his flesh. When he ran his fingers over the outline, it tingled as it faded.

Deciding he shouldn't wait around for something else to go weird, Yami made his escape. He had an appointment to keep in Luxor. The phone call he'd received had told him to book passage aboard the _River Horse_ with Pegasus Tours for the cruise from Luxor to Aswan. He could only hope they'd uphold their end of the bargain and swap Sugoroku for the necklace as promised.

He had no intention of calling Yugi at the Mena House. After all, this journey to Luxor might prove to be a one-way trip -- for him _and_ Sugoroku. There was no way he would risk Yugi's life, too.

* * *

Notes: In the original book, Our Hero is named for actor Harrison Ford (the character's name is Fordham I. Harris). I liked the idea, so I decided to name this story's hero for another actor. "Viridian" is a shade of green. So "Daniel Viridian" equals "Dan Green" (Yami's English dub voice actor). Yami's description has been "de-anime-fied" for this story, since it takes place in a slightly more realistic setting than Anime World. ;) I don't believe he has three-toned hair, anyway. It's two colors: dark red, which appears black or almost-black closer to his head, and blond. But that's a weird combo to pull off as natural. So, I'm taking liberties with his "look" for SotN. Also, since the official art for the series shows both Yami and Yugi with just about every eye color imaginable, I've given him brown eyes here for reasons that will probably make sense once you've reached the climax of the story. (If not, feel free to ask.)

The former prologue has been removed and posted as a separate side-story/prequel to this one. The difference in tone and POV between the prologue and the main fic seemed to confuse some readers or even put them off reading SotN, which of course is not something any author likes to hear. If you're curious about what got Yugi's grandpa into the mess he's in, please read "Found and Lost" (posted under this same account name). Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the story!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Yugi had chosen the Mena House by the simple expedient of it having been the first hotel listed on the web page when he arranged his trip. He hadn't considered price or location, his only real concern having been getting to Egypt as fast as possible. Built in the 19th century as a royal lodge for the Khedive Ismail, the Mena House wasn't exactly economy lodging, but you couldn't beat its location.

He stared in awe at the view outside his window. The Great Pyramid! _Wow_, he thought, gazing up at the man-made mountain of stone. The sky behind the pyramids shifted to azure as the day faded, turning them to mysterious silhouettes in the falling dusk. He could feel the weight of thousands of years of antiquity settling like a mantle across the plateau. He had never been to Egypt before, but he knew now a part of his heart would always call it home.

Reluctantly, he turned his gaze from the magnificent view and back to the small stack of letters he had retrieved from his bag. His grandpa's spidery handwriting sprawled across the pages, interspersed with rough sketches of artifacts and tomb walls. Yugi studied one such sketch, scrunching his nose as he tried to decipher the hieroglyphs Sugoroku had inscribed next to a drawing of a sarcophagus.

_Let's see... Sedge plant, bee, sun disk... Is that supposed to be a duck?_ Yugi shook his head. His grandpa's kanji was hard enough to read -- the hieroglyphs were next to impossible, and Yugi only knew how to read a few basic ones anyway.

Giving up for now, he carefully returned the letters to their envelopes. Each one was a testament to Sugoroku's obsession with the Millennium Items. Yugi berated himself. Why hadn't he noticed it was getting worse? He should have insisted Sugoroku come home sooner. Now... His hands trembled and, afraid that he might tear the letters, he hastily put them down. Fresh worry surged inside him. What if he never got to see his grandpa again?

No. He couldn't think like that. He _would_ find his grandpa. Hadn't Dr. Viridian promised to help? Everything was going to be all right. Yugi was sure of it.

Hugging that assurance close to his heart, he curled up beneath the covers on the massive four-poster bed, and went to sleep with visions of Dr. Viridian's intriguing brown eyes dancing in his dreams.

* * *

Morning found Yugi anxiously dividing his attention between desultory attempts at eating breakfast and staring at the phone, which (despite his best efforts at telepathy) remained stubbornly silent. He tore his gaze away from the uncooperative phone and returned to reading the morning paper.

Most of the front page was devoted to the earthquake, though nothing in the articles gave him any clues that might lead to his grandpa's whereabouts. A tiny article buried on page four mentioned the theft from the Museum of Antiquities of several papyrus scrolls comprising an obscure text called the _Book of the Nameless Pharaoh_. It quoted Dr. Viridian, the Egyptologist who had discovered the papyri several years ago, and mentioned Sugoroku's sudden absence from the Institute. Yugi's stomach clenched. He didn't like the suggestion, insinuated but never stated outright, that his grandpa was a suspect. Did Dr. Viridian believe Sugoroku had stolen the papyri? If he did, it would explain his apparent reluctance to help.

He shivered and shot another look at the clock. It was after seven. He debated calling the hotel operator again and asking if there were any messages. There hadn't been the last three times he had called, but he remained hopeful. Instead, he took a tiny sip of the thick, dark coffee that had arrived along with his breakfast tray. He could practically feel the caffeine jolt along his nerves. Probably not a good idea, as high-strung as he already was. He set the coffee aside and nibbled on a piece of toast as he turned to the next page in the newspaper.

Another news item, with a small blurry photo, caught his eye. He read the caption beneath the picture: _Unique amulet stolen from Cairo Museum of Antiquities_.

Yugi choked on his toast. He coughed, but that only made things worse because he ended up inhaling more bits of partially masticated bread. Scrabbling a hand across the table, he latched onto the first cup he came to and chugged the contents, hoping it would clear his throat. It turned out to be the coffee, which burned like napalm as it seared its way down his esophagus. In too much distress to curse -- not that he could, because by that point he was finding it impossible to breathe -- he grabbed the water pitcher and up-ended it over his mouth. That soothed the burn, but almost drowned him in the process.

After he got his breath back, and mopped up the mess, Yugi snatched up the newspaper and glared at the offending article. A quick scan told him that a priceless artifact, a one-of-a-kind necklace, had been stolen from the jewelry exhibit at the museum.

He studied the photo. It wasn't very clear, but the detail was enough that he could see the center part of the necklace was in the shape of a golden eye. Could it be the same piece of jewelry he had seen Dr. Viridian slip into his pocket? He remembered thinking perhaps the Egyptologist was taking the necklace for further study. Would he have done so without telling anyone? It didn't seem likely, now that Yugi thought about it. Why had Viridian taken the necklace?

More importantly, why was Yugi hanging around his hotel room, finding new and exciting ways of accidentally killing himself with food, waiting for a call that seemed as if it would never come?

Yugi made up his mind. He was through waiting around. He was going to go find his grandpa! He surged to his feet with a new determination -- and stopped when he realized he was still soaking wet. Okay. He was going to change clothes! And call the museum to see what was keeping Dr. Viridian! _Then_ he was going to go find his grandpa.

Satisfied with his new plan of action, Yugi hurried to set it in motion.

* * *

The call to the museum had not gone as planned. The words of the woman who had answered the phone were still ringing in his ears. "Dr. Viridian will be in Luxor until further notice."

The _hell? _Viridian had left without him? That _jerk_. To say that Yugi was not happy would be an understatement on a par with "Seto Kaiba is not laid-back." He wasn't sure which was worse, the feeling of betrayal from someone he had thought he could trust, or the hot flush of anger still coursing through him. Moving stiffly, he retrieved the phone from where he had flung it across the room and carefully returned it to its place on the bedside table.

He froze as a new thought occurred to him. He might be the only person in Egypt who knew that renowned Egyptologist Dr. Daniel "Yami" Viridian was, in reality, a thief. That thought led to another, even more disturbing notion. What if Dr. Viridian had stolen the necklace in order to point the blame at Sugoroku? Maybe _Dr. Viridian_ was the one who had taken the _Book of the Nameless Pharaoh_, and he wanted to throw everyone off his tracks by making it look like Sugoroku was the real culprit. And Yugi had caught him in the act!

It all made sense now. Dr. Viridian's strange awkwardness, the way he had stared so intently at Yugi. It was nothing but the man's guilty conscience at work. No wonder he wanted Yugi to stay in Cairo -- Yugi was the only one who knew what Viridian was really up to.

Well, if Dr. Viridian thought his nefarious plan was going to work, he had another think coming. Yugi wasn't going to just sit by and watch Viridian frame his grandpa. Now more than ever, Yugi was determined to go to Luxor and find Sugoroku so he could clear his name. Unfortunately, the only lead Yugi had at this point was... Dr. Viridian. He sighed. _Fine_. If he had to follow the man to Luxor and then staple himself to Viridian's hip, he'd do it, just so long as it meant finding Sugoroku.

Decision made, he dove for the phone and called the airport. He had to be on the next flight to Luxor.

* * *

Another airplane. Just what Yugi hadn't wanted to see for about a million years -- or at least until after he had found Sugoroku. But he boarded the small plane anyway, even as a little puddle of dread settled in his stomach. It was the first flight to Luxor that day. It didn't _matter_ that the plane looked like the prize from a box of Cracker Jacks.

_Yeah_, muttered a voice in his head that sounded an awful lot like Seto Kaiba. _You just keep telling yourself that. I'm sure it'll be a great comfort to you when they're fishing your toy airplane out of the Nile._

"_Shut up_," he hissed, drawing strange looks from the passengers already seated on either side of the central aisle. Yugi tried to pretend he didn't see them. It got a lot easier when he suddenly noticed a familiar head of auburn hair at the back of the cabin. Everything else temporarily forgotten, Yugi rushed straight to the last row of seats and, with a scowl that would've made Seto proud, leaned in and growled, "Forget something?"

Dr. Viridian shot upright in his seat, brown eyes widening at the sight of Yugi looming over him. "Wha-- What are _you_ doing here?"

"Sitting," Yugi informed him, and proceeded to do just that.

He left Viridian no choice but to shift his legs so that Yugi could scoot past him into the window seat. The seats were very close together, and his thigh brushed against Viridian's as he settled. Yugi tried to ignore the electricity that raced through him at the inadvertent touch. He stowed his small bag under the seat and looked around for something, _anything_ to distract him from the way Viridian's hip pressed against his in the cramped space. There was nothing, not even a manufacturer's label on the seatback in front of him.

"Relax."

Yugi peeked sideways from under his bangs to find Viridian watching him with a strange expression softening the sharp angles of his handsome features.

"I hate flying," Yugi confessed. He had jumped on a plane to Egypt without a second thought because Sugoroku needed him, but that didn't mean he had enjoyed it. He shivered, and started in surprise when a long-fingered hand reached over to gently cover his.

"I've flown on this airline for years without any problems."

_That means they're about due for some_, Seto's voice snarked.

Yugi squinted his eyes shut and mentally chanted, _Shut up, shut up, shut up! _He opened his eyes to find the other man staring at him. "Sorry. I'm a little distracted. Look, Dr. Viridian--"

"Call me Yami." The offer was accompanied by a dazzling smile that undoubtedly knocked women over at twenty paces. Yugi felt his cheeks flush and silently cursed his fair complexion. "Sugoroku always does. And I've thought of you as 'Yugi' for years, even though we'd never met."

_How nice for you_, sneered the Seto voice. Yugi resisted the urge to pound his head against the back of his seat. How had his mental receiver gotten set to Radio Free Seto? _Tell me you're not falling for the charm act, Mutou_._ Remember he's the one who stole that necklace from the museum_.

Good point, but he didn't need Seto (even an imaginary Seto) to tell him that. Yugi closed his eyes and concentrated. _If you don't get out of my head, I swear I will personally redesign every dragon in every version of every Duel Monsters_ _game you own to look like Kuriboh_.

..._You wouldn't dare_.

_PINK Kuriboh_._ With little bows_.

Silence. Radio Free Seto was off the air. Yugi sagged in his seat.

"Are you all right?"

He looked up to find Yami staring at him again, and forced a tiny grin. "I'm ...very tired, actually. I just want to find my grandpa, go home, and sleep for a month."

"I'm sure Sugoroku is fine. Like I said, he's simply enjoying some time off before the Institute dig starts up next month." Yami smiled. "We'll find him at the Institute's field mission headquarters or out in the Valley of the Kings, talking about his theories with anyone who will listen."

"So, you _are_ going to Luxor to look for him." Yugi pounced on the admission.

Yami looked startled, then tried to cover it with a strained laugh. "Look for Sugoroku? No, of course not! He knows Egypt better than I do. Trust me."

The transparent denial hit Yugi like a slap to the face. He drew as far back from the other man as he could in the limited space. Trust him? That was a laugh -- a bitter, mirthless laugh that, for a second, made him wonder if he had tuned back into Seto. "So why are you going to Luxor?"

"I'm doing some preliminary work for the upcoming dig," Yami said, settling in his seat and folding his arms over his chest as if preparing to nap. Yugi couldn't help noticing that his arms, bared to the elbow by his rolled up sleeves, were lean and bronzed by all those hours of working outside on excavations. "I'll also be checking for earthquake damage at Karnak."

"Oh, I see." Yugi fought to keep the dismay off his face. Why was Yami lying to him? Was he responsible for Sugoroku's disappearance? Yugi didn't want to think that might be true, but he had to consider the possibility. More importantly, he couldn't let Yami know that he knew Yami wasn't telling him the whole truth. "I'm sure that's an important job."

From the look on Yami's face, that had come out sounding more dejected than Yugi had meant for it to. Yami's expression softened again. "I'm sorry I didn't call you, Yugi. Last night, I realized that Sugoroku wouldn't be too happy with me if I let you roam around Egypt trying to find him. I'll tell him you're looking for him, and he can join you back in Cairo. You can take the flight back first thing in the morning."

"I'd like to look around Luxor, maybe spend a few days seeing the monuments." Yugi didn't have to fake wide-eyed curiosity. "Grandpa's told me so much about Deir el-Bahri, the Valley of the Kings, and the Temple of Karnak. It would be a shame to leave without seeing any of them."

"Uh--"

"Can you suggest a good place to stay?" Yugi continued in the same innocent tone. It was a stretch, but he thought Yami was buying it. "Hey, maybe Grandpa will turn up on his own. Right?"

"...Yeah, maybe." Yami didn't look happy. His gaze had grown chilly, and the down-turned corners made his mouth into a thin, almost cruel line. "If you insist on remaining in Luxor, I suggest the Old Winter Palace. With your interest in historic hotels, I'm sure you'll enjoy staying there."

"Sounds great." Yugi didn't bother to correct the misconception. He put his head back on the seat and closed his eyes. Jet lag dragged at him. He barely noticed when Yami leaned over and fastened his seat belt for him.

Before long, the drone of the engines lulled Yugi into a restive doze. With it came a faint sense of... _Grandpa?_ Yugi reached out for that beloved presence, comforted by the knowledge that at least his grandfather was still alive. He tried to curl around Sugoroku's presence, tried to draw it to him -- or find out where Sugoroku was -- but all he succeeded in doing was drifting deeper into dreams.

"...Yugi? You need to wake up now. We're in Luxor."

Yugi stirred as the deep voice continued to murmur, gentle and low, into his ear. He nuzzled against his pillow, trying to get comfortable, but the voice wouldn't let him go back to his nap, and his pillow was surprisingly unyielding beneath his cheek.

"Can you hear me, Yugi? It's time to get up..."

Yugi mumbled something and rubbed his cheek against the firm surface on which it rested. A faint, clean scent clung to it, something spicy that reminded him vaguely of temple incense. He reached up and gathered a handful of... Yami's shirt?

His eyes flew open and he shot back into his own seat. He blinked up at Yami, noticing the way his lips twitched, as if Yami was suppressing a smile. Yugi mentally smacked himself. He had been using Yami's shoulder as a pillow. He had probably _drooled_ on the man. He felt like such a spazz.

"Come on, Yugi." The smile finally broke free, but it was gentle, not mocking. "We need to get off the plane now."

Still tired despite his nap, Yugi allowed Yami to lead him through the airport formalities, and then out into the hot sun. Summer in Luxor was sweltering, the heat oppressive even where they stood in the shade of the overhanging roof of the terminal. People jostled round them, vying for taxis to take them into the city. When Yami hustled him into a cab, Yugi didn't object, merely slumped in the cracked vinyl seat, and wished for air conditioning.

"So," he mumbled, when he had mustered the energy to speak. "What now?"

"I'll drop you at the Old Winter Palace."

The curt, clipped tone seemed at odds with the man who had let Yugi use him as a pillow all the way from Cairo. Yugi sat up straight and frowned at him. "What about you? Where are you going?"

"I have Institute business to attend to."

Other than a brief conversation in Arabic with the cab driver, that was the last thing Yami said as they rode toward the city. Yugi sighed, resigned to a silent, sullen companion, and turned his head to gaze out the dusty window at the bustling streets. Cars, trucks, and motorcycles mingled with horse-drawn carriages in the traffic along the Corniche el-Nil. There were crowded, colorful bazaar stalls alongside modern hotels and fast food restaurants. There were women in black veils and men in loose cotton _jalabiyas_, as well as young people in jeans and slogan laden t-shirts.

The taxi pulled up before a dusty building that radiated a kind of genteel decay. Once in the lobby, Yugi caught a glimpse through open double-doors of a bright, well-tended garden that promised a haven from the heat of the city. Yami dumped Yugi's luggage at -- almost _on_ -- his feet.

"Take care," Yami called, whipping around on his heel and striding back toward the waiting cab before Yugi could even yelp in surprise. "I'll be in touch!"

Remembering the last time Yami had promised to call him, Yugi didn't waste any time dithering. With no time to spare for niceties, he shoved some money at the concierge. "Watch my luggage -- I'll be back!"

He raced outside and jumped into the first taxi in the hotel queue. Feeling like a character in a cheesy movie, he shouted, "Follow that cab!"

The driver gave him the "oh, look, it's a crazy tourist" stare until Yugi thrust a handful of crumpled bills at him. "_Please_."

The _baksheesh_ disappeared. The cab took off so fast Yugi ended up in a tangled heap on the floorboard. He hauled himself up and managed to wedge himself into the corner of the seat, where he hung on for dear life as the taxi roared through traffic. They careened through the streets, heading away from the glistening ribbon of the Nile and into the city.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

Yami slumped in the back seat of the taxi and tried to roll the tension from his shoulders. The air in the cab stank of stale cigarette smoke, but he drew in a few deep breaths to calm the worry tightening the back of his throat. How had he gotten into this mess? And how was he going to keep Yugi from getting into it any deeper than he already had? The confrontation on the plane proved he couldn't trust Yugi to meekly stay out of the way somewhere safe, assuming Yami could find such a place in which to stash him.

He rubbed a hand over his forehead, trying to banish the ache lodged there, and stared blindly out the window. Maybe after he took care of this thing with Pegasus Tours, he could figure out what the hell to do next.

The Pegasus Tours office was in a blocky modern building on the upper Corniche. As he walked into the spacious lobby, he surreptitiously checked to see if anyone had followed him. His fingers brushed the necklace hidden in his pocket. Would they make the trade here? He could only hope it would be that simple. No weapon, no back-up... and where the hell was Interpol? Gritting his teeth in anger at the position he found himself in, he stalked into the tour company's office.

"Welcome to Pegasus Tours." The young woman at the reception desk greeted him with a bright smile. "May I help you?"

"My name is Yami Viridian. I'd like to speak with Pegasus Crawford about booking passage on the _River Horse_ for its next excursion. Is Mr. Crawford in?"

"One moment, please." Her own smile gone, she moved with alacrity through the wood-paneled door in the wall behind her desk, presumably to find her boss.

Yami took the opportunity to give the office a quick once over. He was new to all this cloak-and-dagger stuff, but the business didn't seem to be anything other than what it claimed -- a tour office. Tastefully framed posters of travel destinations covered the walls. Glossy brochures sat in neat stacks on the polished tables between overstuffed chairs and potted palms. An oriental carpet added a splash of color to the understated earth tones that dominated the décor.

The door opened again, allowing a tall gentleman to step through. His face, at least the half not hidden by a fall of white-blond hair, was handsome, and his one visible eye was a warm brown. Despite the color of his hair, he appeared no more than ten years older than Yami's own thirty. He wore a designer suit and an urbane smile. Yami tried not to stare. Surely this man couldn't have anything to do with a fanatical cult... could he? Maybe he was the contact Interpol had promised?

"Dr. Viridian, such an honor to finally meet you." Crawford's plummy tone was every bit as suave as his smile. The American accent came as a surprise, though not the firm handshake. "Please, step into my private office."

A few moments later, Yami was seated in an elegantly carved wooden chair, with a cushion behind his back and a cup of tea in his hand. He swept his gaze around the room, taking in the elaborate brass tea service, the mosiac-topped table on which it rested, and the rich carpet beneath their feet. It seemed the tour business had treated Mr. Crawford well.

Crawford settled behind his desk -- mahogany inlaid with an intricate rosewood and ebony knot design -- and tilted his head thoughtfully. Yami caught a puzzling glimpse of gold behind the man's white-blond hair. "How may Pegasus Tours serve you today, Dr. Viridian?"

"I'd like to sail on the _River Horse_ tomorrow."

"Ah! An excellent choice, if I do say so myself. The _River Horse_ is the jewel of my fleet." Crawford gestured expansively as he spoke. "The ship embarks for Dendera in the morning. She returns to Luxor to visit Karnak before sailing upriver to Edfu and the glorious Temple of Horus. At Aswan, we will tour the famous Philae temple complex..." He trailed off with a chuckle. "Oh, do forgive me, Dr. Viridian. Of course an esteemed Egyptologist such as yourself would know all about the delights that await us."

Yami managed a strained smile. The guy was good, he had to give him that. If it hadn't been for the enigmatic message telling him to meet with Crawford, Yami would never have taken him for anything other than a successful businessman.

"I cannot imagine what insights into Egypt our humble tour might offer you, Doctor."

Yami shrugged. "Busman's holiday, I suppose."

"Ah, of course. Well, in that case, I do hope you enjoy it."

"There's room for me on the tour, then?"

"Oh, I assure you, we would make room for such a distinguished guest." Crawford rose gracefully to his feet, gesturing for Yami to remain in his chair. "Might I impose upon you to honor us with a brief lecture or two about some of the monuments we'll be visiting?"

Yami sighed. He hated being manipulated, but how could he refuse? After all, he _had_ said it was a busman's holiday. Open big mouth, insert booted foot. "Yeah, why not?"

"_Excellent_." Crawford clapped his hands, a pleased expression lighting the visible half of his face. His hair shifted as he moved, and again Yami caught that flash of something gold. "If you will excuse me for one moment, I'll get the necessary forms from the outer office."

The door closed behind Crawford with a soft _snick_. Yami groaned. _Damn_. He had really hoped this would be the end of all this madness, but it looked like it was just the next step along the primrose path. The sooner he got out of here, the better. He slung an unhappy look at the door and made up his mind.

To hell with Interpol and the damn cult, too. He would do what he should've done in the first place.

Find Sugoroku himself.

--------------------------

Yugi peeked over the top of the brochure -- _'Tour the mysterious Nile! Be enthralled by the beauty of ancient ruins from the time of the Pharaohs!'_ -- he was pretending to read when the white-haired man glided into the outer office.

"An honor, indeed..." The man practically purred with satisfaction as he gloated to his assistant. "That an esteemed Egyptologist such as Dr. Viridian should grace our tour on the _River Horse_. Why, I'm sure I'll be far too nervous to guide someone so much more knowledgeable than I."

"I've never seen you so flustered, Mr. Crawford," cooed the young woman behind the reception desk. "Would you like a glass of fruit juice?"

He ignored the suggestion. "Quickly, Mana! Fetch me the necessary forms for the cruise, and for the Old Winter Palace hotel. We'll put him in the best room available. Luckily it's the off-season, so we should be able to get the presidential suite overlooking the gardens."

Not sparing even a glance Yugi's way, Crawford snatched up the papers Mana offered and disappeared back behind the expensive-looking door. Yugi sat very still, trying not to gape. He'd recognized that flamboyant personality and unmistakable hair, though the over-the-face style was new. Pegasus J. Crawford had been a giant in the gaming industry until eighteen months ago. After the death of his pregnant wife in an automobile crash, he'd liquidated his company, Industrial Illusions, and disappeared. No one had seen him since. And no one would ever believe Yugi had seen the missing mogul heading a tour company in Egypt.

"I'm sorry for the delay." Mana's chirpy apology shook him out of his musings. "Would you like me to help you decide on a tour, now that you've had time to look at the brochures?"

Yugi had followed Yami with no preconceived notion of what he would do when they got to wherever they were going. He'd just wanted to know what Yami was up to; he certainly hadn't expected to end up at a tour company. _This_ was supposed to be Institute business? Why the heck would a man who knew Egypt as well as Yami did need to go on a Nile cruise?

None of it made sense. Of course, when he thought about it, nothing _else_ Yami had done made sense either. He was a very confusing individual, part of a puzzle Yugi needed to solve if he was ever going to find out what was going on. The strange thefts, Sugoroku's disappearance, this cruise... He turned the pieces over in his head, but they refused to take on a meaningful shape.

"Um, I'd like to go on the _River Horse_ cruise," he said, hoping Mana would ignore his momentary lapse.

Mana's bubbly laughter made him smile in spite the tension gnawing at his gut. She began assembling the forms for him to fill out. "You're the second person to book passage today. Fortunately, there's a vacancy -- this is our most popular tour, you know, so you're very lucky we still have an opening. The _River Horse_ leaves Luxor for Dendera in the morning."

He took the forms she handed him, grabbed a pen, and began scribbling in the required information. He didn't want Yami to know he was going along on the cruise until it was too late to stop him, so he wanted to get out of the office before Yami finished his meeting with Pegasus. If Yami came out and spotted Yugi, his plans might be ruined before they could even get underway. Hastily, he scrawled his name on the last form and slid the stack across the desk to Mana.

"Perfect!" Mana beamed at him. "Now I'll just make your reservation at the Old Winter Palace and--"

"I can do that myself, thanks." Yugi shot a nervous glance at the door to the inner office, willing it to remain closed for a while longer. He'd make the reservation himself; he knew exactly which room he wanted. "When does the tour start?"

"This afternoon. All passengers will meet for orientation at two o'clock in the private parlor at the Old Winter Palace. I'll look forward to seeing you there, Mr. Mutou."

"Yes. Thank you."

With a quick glance at his wristwatch, Yugi nodded to himself and scurried out of the building, back into the oppressive heat. He didn't have to be at the hotel for another hour. That gave him just enough time to carry out a plan of his own.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

Back at the Old Winter Palace, it only took Yugi a few minutes (and the generous application of both _baksheesh_ and what Seto called the 'puppy eyes of doom') to convince the desk clerk to give him the room he wanted. He walked into his room -- the one next to Dr. Viridian's suite -- with a lighter wallet and a satisfied smirk. Dr. Viridian wasn't the only one who could be tricky.

Yugi's room offered a view of sunlight sparkling on the wide stretch of the Nile, and a glimpse of the hotel's lush gardens. Not quite as impressive as a front row seat at the Great Pyramid, but still beautiful. The suite next door was even more impressive, spanning the entire width of the old hotel. Dr. Viridian must be as important and famous as Sugoroku had always said to rate such accommodations. But why would a man with a reputation like that risk it by stealing from the museum? None of it made any sense, and Yugi's head hurt just thinking about it.

He leaned on the windowsill and watched the large white sails of the _feluccas_ gliding along the river. The sailboats, reminiscent of earlier times, were in sharp contrast to the motorboats zipping among them with same reckless disregard for right of way the automobile drivers cultivated on shore. On the far side of the river, the green swathe of fertile soil ended abruptly at the edge of the desert. The demarcation was sharp, as if someone had drawn a line beyond which vegetation wasn't allowed to encroach. In the hazy distance on the other side of the fields, rose the towering beige cliffs that concealed the world's most famous cemetery, the Valley of the Kings.

He took a second to splash some tepid water on his face in an effort to ward off returning fatigue before heading to the private parlor downstairs.

From the open double doors, Mana sent him a cheery wave. "Mr. Mutou! Please join us."

Yugi usually left the 'dealing with people' part of the business up to Seto (who wasn't any better at it than Yugi, but who also didn't _care_ that he wasn't any good at it). However, he had participated in enough gaming tournaments and expositions that he had learned to cope. So he put a smile on his face and tried to pretend he wouldn't prefer to be hunched over his computer at home, working on his latest game code, rather than walking into a room filled with what looked like the eleven unhappiest tourists in all Egypt. A quick inventory of faces let him know Dr. Viridian wasn't there.

Mana bounced into the room after him, took one look at the dour crowd, and promptly lost her perk. She recovered quickly, plastering on a fresh smile as she announced to the group at large, "If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask me. I'll be your tour leader for our fantastic journey along the Nile! For now, I would like each of you to introduce yourself to the group so that we can all get to know one another better."

Everyone else looked exactly as underwhelmed by that statement as Yugi felt. For several excruciating seconds, no one moved.

Yugi had just resigned himself to taking one for the team and going first, when the guy across from him -- a weird little man with a bowl haircut and oversized glasses -- spoke up, introducing himself as Weevil and his companion as Rex, from San Francisco. Next came Siegfried, his wife Vivian, and a buxom blonde he claimed was his sister Mai, all from South Africa. Mai and Siegfried looked nothing alike, though Yugi supposed one or both of them might've been adopted.

Across from Siegfried, a white-haired young man slouched in his chair, long legs stretched out in front of him. When his turn came, he smirked. "Bakura, from England. And this is my brother Ryou." An airy wave indicated the virtually identical man beside him. In contrast to his brother's attitude, Ryou offered a shy smile and wave.

Then came a quartet of New Yorkers, all traveling together: Serenity, Téa, Rebecca, and Rebecca's grandfather, Arthur. Arthur smoothed his neat gray mustache and murmured a polite 'hello' in a clipped accent that hinted at an Ivy League education.

Everyone looked expectantly at Yugi. "Um, hi. I'm Yugi Mutou and I'm from Domino City, Japan."

"_No way_." Rex made a noise like a mouse in a blender. He sat up straighter and pulled at his t-shirt so the design on the front stood out. For the first time, Yugi noticed it was a picture of the Two-headed King Rex. "Dude! You're the guy who created _Duel Monsters_? I love that game!"

Yugi's face felt like it was on fire. Every eye in the room was staring at him. He rubbed at the back of his neck. "Yeah. I'm a game designer. Um. Co-owner of Dual Designs, Inc., actually." Yugi managed a smile for Rex, who was grinning like a jack-o-lantern. "It's always great to meet a fan of the game."

"_Dude!_"

"Isn't this nice? Already, we're becoming good friends." Mana beamed at them. "Now, for the remainder of this afternoon, we'll take a stroll through the _souk_, where you may shop for souvenirs, and then visit the Luxor Museum."

Yugi barely heard her over the loud churning of his thoughts. Yami had gone to some effort to secure a place on the tour, surely he wouldn't skip it. _So, where was he?_ Yugi fidgeted in his chair, waiting for the others to file out of the room at Mana's direction, then pounced on the tour guide when she turned to herd him out as well. "Do you know where Dr. Viridian is? I thought he'd be here..."

"Dr. Viridian will be joining us later." Mana's usually bright expression clouded into a petulant frown. "Please, Mr. Mutou, let's catch up with the others now. You'll enjoy the _souk_, I promise."

Trailing along behind Mana and the others, Yugi spent more time looking for some sign of Yami rather than actually taking in the sights. He wasn't pouting, though. Not even a little bit. He was _guy_. Guys didn't pout.

_You _so_ do_.

_Shut up! _Yugi told his brain -- or Seto, or whatever the heck it was -- and deliberately turned his attention to his surroundings.

They wandered through narrow streets lined with small shops and stalls, many of which had displays set beneath awnings beside the entrance, all the better to lure customers inside. The displays, on the street and in the windows, were piled high with a variety of spices, baskets, pots, brightly colored cloth and clothing, ornate glass perfume bottles, and more kinds of fake 'antiquities' than Yugi had ever imagined existed. A persistent vendor shoved a carved scarab under his nose before he could fend it off, but Weevil -- making excited noises over the stone bug -- arrowed in, and Yugi made his escape.

A block before they reached the museum, Yugi noticed a sign on one of the side streets: _Institute House_. His heart sped up. Sugoroku's home away from home. He had spent months at Institute House -- surely, if Yugi looked there, he would find some clue to his grandpa's whereabouts.

Besides, Yami might be there.

Plotting to return later, he dutifully trotted after the tour group as they entered the small museum building. Inside, they passed a huge, red granite head from the colossal statue of some pharaoh. Upstairs, they stopped to admire a reconstructed wall from the Amarna Period constructed of 283 painted stone blocks. The blocks, called _talatat _after the Arabic word for the bricks they resembledcame from a dismantled temple to the Aten that once stood at Karnak. Built by the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, the temple had been torn down and the rubble buried or used as fill by later kings.

Studying the strange, elongated skulls with which the pharaoh and his family had been depicted, so different from traditional Egyptian art, Yugi thought he should design more Egyptian themed cards for the next _Duel Monsters_ expansion set. After all, the game's roots were firmly planted in Egypt. If he had never seen images of those tomb paintings, he wouldn't have invented the game. Surrounded by such inspiration, he knew he could make the new card set a success.

The tour began to drift off, breaking into smaller groups. Yugi pretended to study a double statue of the crocodile god Sobek and Pharaoh Amenhotep III, waiting until the others were out of sight before making his move. He dashed back toward the entrance, intent on getting out before anyone noticed his absence. He narrowly missed getting spotted by Bakura and Mai, who were whispering together as they walked, but he ducked behind the pharaonic head, and they passed by without seeing him.

As he trotted through the streets a moment later, he tried not to feel guilty about ditching the tour. Mana would worry about him, so he resolved to return to the hotel before dark. Maybe by then he would have picked up Yami's trail.

Blessed with a good sense of direction, he readily located the side street where he'd seen the Institute's sign. Institute House itself was a Victorian-looking edifice, set behind a high brick wall with an iron gate for the entrance. The gate was slightly ajar, so he squeezed through and into the courtyard on the other side. No one noticed him as he entered the building, but the soles of his sneakers squeaked on the polished granite floor, announcing his arrival to the secretary who sat behind a leaning tower of paperwork at the front desk.

"Heya!" The secretary was a young man of about Yugi's age, with a mop of sandy blond hair that fell over friendly brown eyes. "You look a little lost, if ya don't mind me sayin'. Can I help you?"

"I hope so. I'm Yugi Mutou. I'm looking for my grandfather, Dr. Sugoroku Mutou."

"Oh, yeah! I can see the resemblance, now ya mention it." The grin faded. "I'm sorry, but Dr. Mutou's not here. Was he expectin' ya? 'Cause he ain't been around here for a couple a weeks. He's on vacation. Somewhere upriver... I think." He scratched at the back of his head, then shrugged. "Eh-heh. Sorry. If you need any more information, you'll have to talk to Dr. Viridian. He's the head of the Institute, so he'd know. And, hey! Lucky for you, he's in town."

Yugi perked up. Yami was here! "Can I see Dr. Viridian now?"

"He ain't -- I mean, 'he _isn't_ in his office... at the present time.'" It sounded rehearsed, and the blond looked embarrassed that he'd almost messed it up.

"Well... Could I wait for him in his office?" An idea had hatched itself in Yugi's head and was pecking impatiently at his frontal lobe. All he needed was a few minutes alone to poke around...

"Sorry, man. Can't do that. I can make ya an appointment if ya want, though."

Yugi found himself perilously close to not-pouting again. He blinked wide, hopeful eyes at the secretary. "Please? I really need to talk to Dr. Viridian _right now_."

"Gah!" The blond covered his eyes with one hand. "My sister does that puppy eye thing! It oughta be illegal." Keeping his eyes covered, he shooed Yugi away with the other hand. "Sorry, man, but it's not worth my job, y'know? Make an appointment and come back later."

Defeated, Yugi mumbled, "No, thanks," and slouched back out onto the street. Shoulders drooping, he looked around. Maybe the local police could offer some assistance?

After a bit of aimless wandering, and asking passers-by for directions, he stumbled across the police station. The inside of the building was hotter than the street outside, and the ancient fan laboring overhead did little more than stir the listless air around. As Yugi stood awkwardly just inside the doorway, a young man glanced up from his work and offered him a welcoming smile.

"I am Lieutenant Mahaad Bahur," the man said, rising to his feet and coming around his desk. "How may I assist you, sir?

Lieutenant Bahur was tall and lean, with broad shoulders beneath his uniform jacket. He had short, neatly trimmed brown hair, and blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence.

Yugi almost fainted with relief at seeing such a warm, friendly face. He felt that, at last, he had found someone who would be willing to help him.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"I'm Yugi Mutou. I'm here in Luxor looking for my grandfather, Sugoroku Mutou."

Lieutenant Bahur's smile brightened. "Of course! I should have recognized you -- There is a certain family resemblance, is there not? He speaks of you constantly, so I feel as if I already know you."

"You know my grandpa?" Relief flooded Yugi. "Do you know how I can reach him? I've been trying for days and--"

The flood of words died when the policeman held up a hand. "I am sorry I do not. I assure you, Dr. Mutou often goes off on these little expeditions. If you are worried about him, you might inquire at Institute House. As I am certain you know, your grandfather works with Dr. Viridian. Happily, as of today, Dr. Viridian has returned to Luxor."

Yugi's heart sank. "How well do you know Dr. Viridian?"

"Very well." Lieutenant Bahur's eyes lit with what seemed to be pleasant memories. "We attended university together in America. We were on the same fencing team for four years."

"Oh." Yugi swallowed his disappointment. He couldn't insult this man by suggesting his good friend was a thief. He sagged a bit, all his exhaustion coming back to him in a rush. Back to square one -- no, _negative_ one. Not only did he have to find Sugoroku, now he had to find Yami, too. Softly, he said, "Thank you. I'll... talk to Dr. Viridian."

Feet dragging, he made his way back to the hotel.

Mana fluttered anxiously on the front steps, waiting for him. Guilt stabbed at him when her face lit up upon seeing him.

"I'm sorry if I worried you, Mana."

Relief made her more buoyant than ever. "It's all right, Mr. Mutou. But, from now on, if you need to go off without the group, please allow me to arrange an escort for you."

Masculine pride reared its head. He could take care of himself, dammit! But the concern in her eyes made him bite back the rebuff. He sagged again. "Yeah, sure."

He hated to lie to her, but he knew he would leave the tour in a heartbeat if he got a lead on his grandpa. And if Yami bolted, Yugi would be right on his tail... provided Yami ever actually _showed up_ again. Yugi kicked the toe of his sneaker against the step. Why did this have to be so hard?

Something tugged at his arm. It took him a second to realize Mana was still talking. "...in the dining room. I'm sure you must be hungry. You'll enjoy the food here, it's very good."

Listlessly, he allowed her to tow him toward the hotel restaurant. "Is Dr. Viridian back yet?"

"I don't think so..." She studied him for a moment, then winked. "Oh, don't worry. I'm sure he will return to you very soon."

_Argh_. Yugi winced. Great, now she thought he was interested -- _romantically_ interested -- in Yami. Okay, so maybe Yami _was_ the handsomest man Yugi had ever met. And _maybe_ there were moments when he seemed to actually care. In between all those _other_ times when he doing stupid shit like sneaking off alone or going on inexplicable Nile cruises. But mostly he was irritating. And untrustworthy. And had a smile that turned Yugi's insides to warm goo. And... Where was he going with this again?

_God only knows. But when you get there with it, could you bury it in a deep pit and never speak of it again?_

_Oh, no. Why are you back?!_

_I wish I knew._

_Well, whatever the reason --_ _stop it!_

_You think this is _my_ idea? I don't even believe in this psychic bullshit._

_Wait a minute_. Yugi blinked. This wasn't just his imagination? --_Seto?! Is that really you?_

_No. It's the freaking tooth fairy. Who the hell did you think it was? Or do you routinely barge into people's heads at random?_

Yugi had never barged into anyone's head before, at random or otherwise. _Uh, I dunno. You're the first person this has ever happened with._

_Imagine my joy._

"--Mr. Mutou? Is everything all right?"

Mana's worried words pulled him from the conversation in his head. Which immediately informed him it hadn't liked playing intercontinental telephone and started to throb. In a strained voice, he said, "I have a headache. I think I'll just go up to my room and lie down for a while."

"Oh, dear. I'll have a light supper sent to your room, then. You shouldn't go without eating, you know. It will only make your headache worse. Sleep well, Mr. Mutou. We board the _River Horse_ at dawn."

Yugi retreated to his room, grateful for the silence in his head. Had that conversation really happened? He couldn't quite believe it. Yes, he had psychic dreams. But... telepathy? With _Seto?_ If he was going to be in mental contact with anyone, why couldn't it be Sugoroku? Or even Yami...

He downed a couple of aspirin, ran the water until it was almost cold, then stuck his head under the tap. When he came up for air, he looked like a half-drowned echidna, but his head felt clearer. He scrubbed a towel over his hair and, dripping gently, wandered over to the wall that divided his room from Yami's. He pressed his ear against the paneling, but heard only silence from the other room.

Towel around his neck, Yugi flung himself onto the bed. Where could Yami be? What was he doing? Did it have something to do with Sugoroku's disappearance? And why was Yami lying to him every step of the way?

Yugi closed his eyes and cast out with his mind, hoping to find some trace of his grandpa, but all he found was sleep.

--

Yami had spent several frustrating hours driving around the desert hunting a man named Ahmed. Just when he had begun to believe Ahmed was as mythical as the Millennium Items, he had stumbled upon the man in the Valley of the Kings, assisting a survey team from the Theban Mapping Project.

Now, exhausted, he pulled the Jeep up to the Institute's iron gate, only to find it standing open and lights on in the front windows of the building. Who could be working so late? Did he dare hope Sugoroku had made it back on his own?

Adrenaline sent him loping across the courtyard, his fatigue forgotten. He slammed through the door, which hit the wall with a _bang_, startling the two people standing in the front office. They jerked around to stare at him, the murmur of Yugi's name still hanging in the air between them.

Yami groaned. "What's he done _now_?"

"You mean Yugi?" Joey Wheeler, Yami's secretary, grinned at him. "He was sniffin' around here lookin' for Dr. Mutou. Asked a lot of questions about the old guy -- and _you_, you dog." He winked.

"He also came by my office," Mahaad said, with a much calmer smile. "I suggested he speak with you, but it appears you are already aware of the problem."

Joey snickered. "I'll leave you two 'ladies' to your gossip. I promised my little sister I'd stop by her hotel so we can spend some quality time together before her Nile cruise starts." He shook his head. "Ain't seen her since I took this job, so I don't wanna miss the chance. Smell ya later!"

After the secretary dashed out, shutting the door behind him, Yami turned to Mahaad. "Remind me again why I hired him?"

"He makes you laugh. And I believe there was something about helping him earn the money to complete his studies?" Mahaad chuckled. "You said yourself that, appearances to the contrary, he will make a fine archaeologist someday."

"Did I? I must have been suffering from temporary insanity." Which would explain a lot, actually. Like every second of the past two days. Which brought him back to the current crisis. "Yugi came by the police station? What did he want?"

"He wanted to know about Dr. Mutou." When Yami groaned aloud, Mahaad gave him a quizzical look. "Yami?"

"I thought I had it covered!" Yami buried his face in his hands. Voice muffled, he continued, "I should've known he wouldn't really go back to Cairo, but I at least thought he'd stay put at the damn hotel."

"Yami, where _is_ Dr. Mutou? I thought he was simply on one of his excursions, but--"

Yami's insides twisted with a combination of dread, guilt, and regret. He couldn't risk telling his best friend the whole story, but he had to tell him something. He drew a deep breath, then blew it out. "I haven't heard from him in more than a week."

"And... you are concerned about him?"

"Two months ago, Sugoroku came to me with a tale he'd gotten from one of the diggers, a _fellahin_ named Ahmed. About a hundred years ago, one of Ahmed's ancestors 'stumbled across' a tomb in the desert."

They exchanged knowing looks. Tomb robbing was an ancient profession that, unfortunately, still flourished.

"According to the family legend, it was the tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh. The, er, intrepid ancestor found a golden box in the tomb that supposedly held one of the mythical Millennium Items -- the one belonging to the Pharaoh himself, the Millennium Puzzle. But the man was being chased by... someone, the story gets a little vague on the details at this point, so he stashed the box, planning to retrieve it later. Too bad for him he got caught. His assistant, who was also his son, got away -- but his father hadn't told him exactly where he stashed the box." Yami frowned. "Supposedly, the box is still there, but no one knows where 'there' is."

"For the story to be true, one must believe the Nameless Pharaoh really existed," Mahaad said softly, tilting his head as if he could peer into the ancient past and see the truth for himself. "It is an interesting legend."

Yami snorted. "You can't walk into a tomb or temple without tripping over an 'interesting' legend. People love them. They love to make them up, and they love to embellish the ones that already exist. You can't believe all of them."

"Dr. Mutou believed this one?"

"Oh, yeah!" Yami kicked his boot heel against the leg of Joey's desk. "He tried to convince me he was right. I told him he wasn't. We had a major dust-up over it, and he took off for parts unknown, vowing to prove me wrong." He sagged onto the corner of the desk, and dragged his fingers through his dusty hair. His mouth settled into a frown. "I haven't seen him since."

"Oh, my friend..." Mahaad leaned against the desk in companionable solidarity. "This is not your fault. You did not send him away--"

"I spoke to Ahmed today. He saw Sugoroku nine days ago, said the old man made him tell the legend over and over again. After that, it's like he fell off the face of the earth."

Silence stretched between them for a minute. Finally, Mahaad said carefully, "I have heard rumors..."

"About Sugoroku?" Yami straightened. "What have you heard?"

"No, no. Not about him. About a cult... You will laugh, but I have heard this cult is very old, perhaps from the time of the pharaohs. They live underground, in secret, and worship in the old ways."

"Ha, ha. What does that have to do with--?"

"They are said to possess at least some of the Millennium Items."

That wasn't a laughing matter. If Sugoroku had heard that same rumor... It didn't matter if the Items were real or not, only that he -- and the cult -- thought they were. _Oh, god_. He thought of the necklace he had taken from the museum. The ransom message claimed it was the Millennium Necklace. The stolen papyri held the only known texts to mention the Nameless Pharaoh.

He didn't like where this was going. And if he told Mahaad any of his fears, his friend would be right there beside him when he confronted the cult's messenger. Back-up would be great, but he wouldn't involve Mahaad in this if he could avoid it.

Mahaad's sharp gaze settled on him. "Where does young Mr. Mutou fit into all this?"

Yami knew where he'd _like_ Yugi to fit, but it probably fell into the 'too much information for casual conversation' category. And he seriously needed to de-stress soon, because he wasn't usually this flippant when contemplating crazy cults and the very real possibility of his own imminent demise.

"He just wants to find his grandfather," Yami said, tipping his head back to stare at the ornate plaster medallion in the center of the ceiling. Unfortunately, it held no answers for him. He rolled his head to look at Mahaad. "Keep an eye on Yugi for me? I've got to be on the _River Horse_ when it sails in the morning, and I don't think he ought to be running around Luxor on his own. He's too trusting for his own good."

"An admirable trait, in its way." Mahaad looked puzzled. "Why are you taking a cruise?"

_Because I woke up one morning and found myself starring in a bad Indiana Jones rip-off,_ Yami thought wearily. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to sound casual. "Business."

"What kind of business requires you to take a cruise?" Mahaad persisted. "I might be tempted to change professions."

"Look, I'll be back day after tomorrow. Just... don't let anything happen to Yugi while I'm gone, all right?"

"As you wish. Good night, my friend." Moving with the grace that had made him a champion fencer, Mahaad glided into the night.

With a heavy heart, Yami returned to the Old Winter Palace. As per the cult's instructions, he had to be on the _River Horse_ when it sailed at dawn. He could only hope there would be an Interpol agent or two tagging along. Someone from the cult was supposed to contact him, but he didn't know where or when.

_At least,_ he thought, sighing as he collapsed into bed, _Yugi will be in good hands_.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The _muezzin_'s call to prayer echoed through the city streets from the loudspeakers in the minaret of a nearby mosque. It woke Yami near dawn. He rolled, pulling the pillow over his head and fully intending to go back to sleep. But something prickled at the edge of his awareness. Something out of place...

The french doors leading out onto the balcony creaked. Yami bolted upright, sleep forgotten.

A man stood on the balcony, a silhouette against the gray sky.

_Shit_. Yami flung himself out of bed. The sheet tangled around his legs, dumping him to the floor. He crashed into the nightstand on the way down, taking the lamp with him. By the time he had freed himself and dashed to the balcony, the intruder had jumped to the neighboring balcony.

"Hold it right there!" Yami shouted. The man ignored him, making his escape into the room next door.

A startled cry came from the other room, even as Yami leaped across the gap between the balconies. He dove through the open french doors -- and collided with a smaller body. They went down in a heap of flailing limbs and muttered curses.

_Ow_, Yami thought as he lay on his back on the hardwood floor and waited for the pretty stars circling his head to dissipate. Then he remembered the intruder and tried to sit up. There was a thud as the two of them tumbled over in the opposite direction. This time, Yami wound up on top.

"_Ow_," said a familiar voice, with a faint Japanese accent, from beneath him.

Yami looked down and found Yugi more or less wrapped around his waist. Yugi's nose scrunched adorably where his face squashed against Yami's chest, and his wildly colored hair fell loosely about his shoulders.

He tilted his head to squint blearily at Yami. "Why're you in my room?"

Rude awakenings made Yugi petulant, Yami noted. Which reminded him-- The intruder! Gently, Yami shifted Yugi to one side and scrambled to his feet. He couldn't let the stranger get away. He might have a message about, or even _from_, Sugoroku. But when he ran to the door and peered into the hallway, the mysterious man was long gone.

"...Yami?"

He turned to find Yugi still sitting on the floor amid a scattering of debris from the overturned nightstand. The expression in those amethyst eyes made Yami want to take him in his arms and never let go. He had taken a step toward Yugi before he even realized what he was doing. What was he thinking? It wasn't his place to offer that kind of comfort. But if Yugi gave him the slightest encouragement, Yami would--

--duck! Because Yugi had thrown a tube of hair gel at him. "_Hey!_"

"You weren't listening," Yugi said reasonably. He groaned as he used one of the bedposts to haul himself to his feet, then spent a few seconds blinking slowly and yawning. "Who was that masked man, an' why're you chasing him through my bedroom at too damn early in the mornin'?"

"He wasn't wearing a mask."

"_Focus_, Yami." Yugi scrubbed both hands over his face, yawned again, and squinted at him. At least, Yami thought with a mixture of relief and amusement, Yugi couldn't use 'The Eyes', since he couldn't seem to keep them open. "You. Man. Chasing. _Why?_"

"He broke into my room. He ran this way. I pursued him." Yami's mouth quirked fondly as he watched Yugi attempting to wake up enough to process Yami's answer, then berate him for it. All available evidence suggested Yugi was not a morning person. Yami filed that away for future reference, too.

Yugi tried to glare at him, then gave it up as too much effort and flopped sideways onto the bed. "Go 'way now," he grumbled into the mattress. "Wanna _sleeeeep_..."

"All right, love." Yami grinned to himself when Yugi mumbled, "...dun call m' that," and attempted to burrow under his pillows like a hibernating animal retreating to its den.

Still grinning, Yami let himself out, closing the door behind him and making sure it locked. He grinned all the way back to his own room, and his own bed. He dropped onto the mattress -- and froze when something crackled beneath his outflung hand. A piece of papyrus? He turned it over and found writing on the other side, though thankfully the note was printed in English letters rather than hieroglyphs.

_Tomorrow. The Osiris sanctuary at the Temple of Hathor._

-------------------------

The ringing of the telephone woke Yugi out of a vivid dream of Yami as a pharaoh and Yugi as some sort of companion or concubine or... Whatever he was, it appeared to involve wearing gauzy robes and peeling grapes. He was pretty sure lettuce came into it at some point, although _why_ eluded him. They'd exchanged heated looks and -- after more grapes and, yes, he was almost certain that was lettuce -- even-more-heated kisses. Kisses led to caresses, which led to Yugi waking up panting and flushed -- and needing to shower off the sticky evidence of just how much he'd enjoyed dream-Yami's touch. He barely heard the voice on the phone telling him to be downstairs in thirty minutes and to leave his luggage outside his door so it could be taken to the _River Horse_.

A short time later, a freshly-showered and dressed Yugi tiptoed down the hall to press his ear to Yami's door. He could hear the shower running. He spent a precious few seconds wrestling with his conscience, but in the end the need to do all he could to help his grandpa won. He gave the knob an experimental twist. Yami had left the door unlocked. On tip-toe, Yugi crept into the room and glanced around.

A change of clothes -- black jeans and a casual shirt -- lay on the unmade bed. The shower sounds were clearer now: running water and a baritone voice attempting to sing a popular song. "'..._it's all a clever disguise. On this mighty throne sits a king who slowly dies_.'"

Yugi couldn't help it. He grinned. Yami had a great voice, but he couldn't carry a tune to save his life. Shaking his head, he forced his mind back to the reason he was here. He eyed the leather tote at the foot of the bed, then sighed as he realized he had no idea what he was looking for. And that he would make a lousy burglar, because he felt guilty even though he hadn't even touched anything yet.

He reminded himself that this was for Sugoroku. There might be a clue to his whereabouts here somewhere, or at least a clue to what Yami was up to. And if Yami caught him going through his things, he'd...

Well, first, he'd spontaneously combust with embarrassment. But _after_ that, he'd... think of something. Had he only dreamed that Yami chased some weirdo through his bedroom earlier? Maybe he could use that as an excuse.

The singing stopped and Yugi panicked. His gaze darted frantically around the room -- and landed on a scrap of hitherto unnoticed papyrus lying next to the tote. That was odd. He didn't think even dedicated Egyptologists kept their notes on actual papyrus. Cat-footing over to the bed, he snatched up the note and read it.

The pipes squealed as the shower stopped. Yugi dropped the papyrus and sprinted for the hall.

He didn't stop until he was safely in his room. Panting, he collapsed against the connecting wall between their rooms. Over the pounding of his heart, he could just hear Yami moving about on the other side. He didn't seem to have noticed anything amiss. In fact... Yep. The man was singing again, a different song this time. It was still bad.

_'Tomorrow_._ The Osiris sanctuary at the Temple of Hathor_.'

He wondered at that. Did Yami plan to meet someone there? Who -- and why? Memory flashed a file card at him, and Yugi pulled out the itinerary he'd stuck in his pocket earlier. Just as he'd thought, the _River Horse_ was sailing to Hathor's temple at Dendera today.

Was that the reason Yami was on the cruise -- to get to the temple without raising suspicion? Whatever the reason, Yugi wasn't letting him out of his sight. Not until Sugoroku was safe.

When Yugi arrived downstairs, he found the rest of the tour group already gathered around a table having breakfast. The buffet consisted of a variety of foods, some typically European, some local. He tentatively sampled a bean dish Mana called _ful medames_, and some fresh-baked bread. A waiter poured him a cup of the strong, bitter coffee.

"Could I please have some tea?" he asked. The waiter nodded, and returned a moment later with a cup of black tea, fragrant with bergamot. Not his usual drink, but Yugi sipped it gratefully.

"I prefer tea, as well," Ryou said, smiling shyly over the rim of his cup. "The Earl Grey is quite good. Don't you agree?"

"It's...nice." To be honest, Yugi preferred green tea for breakfast -- and maybe a bowl of miso soup -- but he wasn't picky. The bean dish was filling, if a little heavy, and he figured he'd need all the energy he could get if he was going to keep up with Yami today. Speaking of the elusive Dr. Viridian, why hadn't he joined the group yet?

"Bakura and I would be pleased if you joined us at meals for the duration of the trip." Beside Ryou, Bakura snorted, picked up his fork, and stabbed a sausage as if it had personally offended him. Ryou swatted him amiably with his teaspoon before turning soulful eyes on Yugi. "It would be nice to have some civilized company for a change. Please say yes."

"Uh..." Yugi hesitated. He wasn't sure it was a good idea, but he couldn't rudely reject the overture. Not in the face of Ryou's hopeful expression. "Okay. Thanks. It's kind of you to offer."

"Wonderful! That's settled then." Ryou gave him a pleased smile. Then his gaze shifted to something over Yugi's shoulder. "Oh! Mana appears to be ready for us."

Yugi turned to look. Mana waved at them from the doorway. To Yugi's surprise, Pegasus Crawford, clad in a blinding white linen suit, stood beside her.

Mana's voice held a note of awe as she said, "Ladies and gentlemen, it's my honor to introduce Mr. Pegasus J. Crawford, president of Pegasus Tours. He will be joining us on our journey up the Nile."

"I do hope all your memories of Luxor will be happy ones," Pegasus crooned, throwing his arms wide to take in the entire group. "Now, if you'll all accompany me down to the Corniche el-Nil, we shall board the _River Horse_ and begin our glorious expedition together."

As they all filed out of the room, Pegasus added, "I have an unexpected bonus waiting for you all on board the _River Horse_. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised."

Yugi had a feeling he know exactly what -- or, rather, _who_ -- the surprise was. He wondered what Yami's reaction would be when he realized Yugi had followed him.

-------------------------

Anchored at the dock, the _River Horse_ gleamed bright white in the morning sun, which reflected off the long row of windows running the length of each of her three passenger decks. She was only one of many Nile cruisers, also known as floating hotels, crowding the east bank of the river.

Once on board, Yugi took in the elegant interior at a glance. He didn't know much about such things, but he'd spent enough time at the Kaiba mansion to recognize expensive wood paneling, parquet floors, antique furnishings, and Oriental carpets when he saw them. Obviously, Pegasus Tours spared no effort in creating a luxurious atmosphere for its customers.

Pegasus clapped his hands once to gain the group's attention, and announced, "Welcome aboard your home for the next few days and nights. Mana will give you your cabin assignments and keys, as well as a pass that will allow you to reboard the _River Horse_ after shore excursions. Once you've visited your accommodations, I would ask you all to please join us in the main salon on the uppermost interior deck."

Yugi found his cabin on the lower deck small but comfortable, with a single bed and a private bath barely the size of a closet. He made use of the facilities before touching up his hair (the heat was murder on his spikes -- he swore it actually melted the styling gel right out of them), then heading up a polished wooden staircase to the salon.

The salon proved to be a large, open space with an ornate bar at one end and a tiled dance floor at the other. In between, overstuffed couches and chairs provided seating in conversational groupings. The four New Yorkers were settled on a green sofa, chatting excitedly. Across from them, Bakura and Mai had cornered a dark gold loveseat; they were seated close enough together that no one could come between them, yet not so near that they had to actually speak to each other. Both wore identical expressions of ennui.

"I can't wait to find out what the surprise is," a bug-eyed-with-anticipation Weevil informed the room at large. He nudged his partner with an elbow. "Maybe they've hired an entomologist to come along and point out all the interesting insect species we'll be seeing."

Rex rolled his eyes. "Yeah. _That'd_ be exciting."

Weevil ignored the less than enthusiastic response and turned to Yugi. "What do _you_ think it is?"

Before Yugi could even open his mouth to reply, Pegasus swept into the salon. As usual, he moved with the grand gestures of a born showman, but it was the man behind him who drew Yugi's attention. _Yami_. Even though Pegasus was the taller of the two, Yami's unconsciously regal bearing gave him a presence that overshadowed even Pegasus' flamboyant personality.

The room hummed with quiet activity. Yugi was distantly aware of the other people in the salon -- the Italians clustered at the bar; the French tourists arguing with their guide over by the staircase; waiters passing around coffee and tea; and his own group, with Mana hovering over them like an anxious mother hen. But it all faded when his gaze settled on Yami. He remembered the spicy scent of the other's cologne and the way Yami's body had felt pressed against his. He remembered his dream image of Yami in pharaonic regalia and shivered, unable to control the reaction that made him flush hot and cold in the same breath.

Yami's gaze met his. Shock flashed in Yami's brown eyes, followed quickly by bemused resignation. There would be no sending Yugi back to the Old Winter Palace; the ship had quite literally sailed on that option. A tiny smile curved his mouth as he nodded once, as if acknowledging something shared between them. Fighting back the blush that wanted to set his face on fire, Yugi couldn't help but return the smile.

"My dear guests," Pegasus called, sweeping out his arms to garner their attention. "It is my great pleasure to introduce renowned Egyptologist, and my esteemed friend, Dr. Daniel 'Yami' Viridian. Dr. Viridian has generously agreed to share with us his expertise on the ancient temples we are about to visit. This is an occasion of great honor for us all."

"I give you... Dr. Viridian!" With another broad gesture, Pegasus turned the floor over to Yami, who appeared startled at suddenly being put on the spot.

"Hello," Yami intoned in his deep voice. He assayed a charming smile that, Yugi noted with narrowed eyes, made every woman in the room (and a couple of the men) sit up and take notice.

Téa whispered something that made Serenity clap a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. Mai leaned forward in her seat, her violet eyes trained unwaveringly on Yami. Beside her, Bakura frowned.

"There is no place on earth quite like Egypt," Yami said, falling easily into the role of orator. "Western civilization was, in a very real sense, born here, and ancient Egypt continues to capture our imaginations and influence our lives even today." He grinned at Yugi. "There are even best-selling games that owe their inspiration to the Egypt of the pharaohs."

Yugi's face heated at the reference to _Duel Monsters_. He hadn't expected Yami to know the game or that Yugi was its inventor. He ducked his head, listening with half an ear as Yami continued speaking, giving them background information on the first stop on their Nile cruise -- Dendera, a small village sixty kilometers north of Luxor, home to the famous Temple of Hathor.

Yugi lost the thread of the lecture there, as his mind connected the dots. The Temple of Hathor, just like in the note he'd found. Did that mean it was just Yami's reminder to himself about his talk to the tour group? He groaned inwardly. Why did the man have to be so damn confusing?

He tuned back in to Yami's voice in time to hear him mention the god Horus, whose temple at Edfu they would also visit.

"...Horus was a god closely associated with kingship. At his coronation, the ruling pharaoh became the Living Horus." Yami continued, relating the myth of the _Contendings of Horus and Set_ -- a contest that lasted eighty years, but eventually proved Horus fit to assume the role of King of the Two Lands. He didn't simply relate the tale, but dramatized it with deft gestures and changes of his surpisingly versatile voice that had his audience on the edge of its collective seat. When he concluded his talk, they burst into spontaneous applause.

Yami smiled. "It _is_ a fascinating subject, isn't it? Are there any questions so far?"

Rebecca's hand shot up. She adjusted her trendy half-glasses. "Wasn't there a cult devoted to one of the pharaohs after he died?"

"There were mortuary cults devoted to all the pharaohs. They provided offerings for the king's _ka_ so that--"

"No, I mean one _specific_ pharaoh." The smirk looked out of place on her freckled face. "The so-called Nameless Pharaoh."

Yami frowned. "The Nameless Pharaoh is a myth."

"What about the _Book of the Nameless Pharaoh_?" she persisted. Despite her youth, and the blonde pigtails that made her appear even younger, the teenager was as tenacious as a bulldog. "I saw it at the Cairo Museum of Antiquities before it was stolen. Why would there be an entire book about him if he's only a myth?"

"There are a lot of books about Santa Claus," Bakura sneered. "Do you believe in him, too?"

Rebecca ignored him, her bright gaze focused intently on Yami. "Well? What about it?"

"Some people believe the Nameless Pharaoh existed," Yami said, his voice revealing his irritation. "I am not one of them."

But Sugoroku was. Yugi thought back to his grandpa's letters, filled with enthusiastic ramblings about the Nameless Pharaoh and the Millennium Items that he had supposedly possessed. According to the ancient writings in the _Book of the Nameless Pharaoh_, the Items gave their owner incredible power -- control over life and death, the ability to crush minds or mend them. With the Items, a man could rule the world.

Sugoroku wasn't out to conquer the world. He just wanted the respect of his colleagues. Proving the Millennium Items -- and the Nameless Pharaoh -- had existed would give him that and more. Was he really off on nothing more dangerous than a treasure hunt? Had Yugi raced halfway around the globe for no reason? He'd been so sure his grandpa needed him. Of course, none of that explained Yami's secretive behavior or why he'd stolen that necklace. Unless... Was he taking advantage of Sugoroku's absence to cast suspicion on him? Did he want Sugoroku discredited that badly?

Absorbed in his ruminations, Yugi missed the rest of the group's comments. The next thing he knew, Mana was herding them all toward the dining room one level down.

Yugi barely noticed the luxurious décor or the murmur of conversation around him. Yami had pulled his disappearing act again, and Yugi found himself seated at an enormous oval table with no real awareness of how he'd gotten there. He chewed a bite of chicken without tasting it. The meal passed in a blur. As soon as he could, he slipped away from the group. When a search of the public areas of the cruiser failed to turn up the elusive Dr. Viridian, inspiration prompted Yugi to ask one of the uniformed crew about the Egyptologist's location.

"Dr. Viridian is staying in the owner's suite," the crewman told him. "However, he has already gone ashore."

Yugi hadn't even realized the _River Horse_ had docked. He had just enough time for a quick stop in his cabin before rejoining the tour group as they disembarked.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Yugi looked up at the broken stone gateway guarding the entrance to the Dendera temple complex. Mounds of earth were all that remained of the thick mudbrick walls that once enclosed the compound. Beyond, he glimpsed the façade of the main temple, the Temple of Hathor.

Although there was evidence of earlier constructions, the existing temple was a product of the Ptolemaic era. Many of the surrounding ruins were Roman, including a pair of "birth houses" flanking the remains of a 5th century Coptic basilica. Mana pointed out the reliefs on the wall of the birth house attributed to the Roman emperor Trajan, which depicted the divine birth and childhood of the infant Horus, whose rites legitimized the divine descent of the king.

When they reached the Temple of Hathor, Yugi stared up at the imposing wall towering twelve and a half meters above his head. Six enormous columns, three on each side of the doorway, had capitals in the shape of the goddess Hathor's head. Mana said the faces, which retained only the faint suggestion of human features, had been destroyed centuries ago.

"This temple is unusual," Mana continued, as she handed out small flashlights to each member of the group. "It is one of the few in Egypt that still has its original roof. So it is very dark inside, just as it was in ancient times. Remember, only the priests were allowed into the inner precincts of the temple. People like us would have had to go around back to the Shrine of the Hearing Ear outside the walls if we wanted to petition the goddess."

They entered the first hypostyle hall where more giant, Hathor-headed columns loomed over them. It was indeed dark, so their flashlights came in handy. The columns had long ago lost their bright paint, but the ceiling retained much of its original color. Roman zodiac signs vied for attention with images of the Egyptian sky goddess Nut, who swallowed the sun every evening and gave birth to it again each dawn.

A doorway led them from the hypostyle hall into the Hall of Appearances where the cult statue of the goddess "appeared" from her sanctuary for ceremonies and processions. From there, Mana took them to the inner sanctum. Carved cartouches on the walls held the names of kings such as Ptolemy XII, but many of the ovals were blank.

Rebecca pointed to them excitedly. "Look at all the empty cartouches! Could they belong to the Nameless Pharaoh?"

"I'm afraid not." Yami appeared from out of the gloom, startling Yugi so that he almost dropped his flashlight. _Damn the man_. He was like a ghost, appearing and disappearing at will. He stopped next to Yugi, but his gaze was on the empty cartouches. "Those were carved sometime in the 1st century, during a period of dynastic struggle. The kings whose names they were meant to enclose probably didn't survive long enough for the stone carvers to finish their jobs."

Yami remained with the group for a while, pointing out highlights and answering questions. Yugi stayed as close to him as he could without being obvious about it, determined that Yami wasn't going to vanish on him again. When the group split up to do some individual exploring, he hugged the shadows and kept his eyes pinned to the Egyptologist. Sure enough, Yami glanced around as if to make sure he was alone before slipping down a narrow hallway. It wasn't easy to tiptoe and run at the same time, but Yugi managed it. He darted from cover and followed Yami, anxious to find out what he was up to.

He stopped at a section of the temple they'd been told was off-limits -- one of the staircases, hidden within the thickness of the wall itself, that the priests had used to access the chapels on the roof. Although the roof was intact, tourists were no longer allowed to view it. Yami ignored the restriction, heading confidently up the stone staircase. Less confident, but just as determined, Yugi started after him.

"Mr. Mutou! What are you doing?" Mana sounded scandalized.

Yugi jumped. His flashlight leaped from his grip to clatter loudly on the steps and he would have followed it if Yami's arms hadn't coiled around him from behind. For a heartbeat, Yugi let himself sink against the warmth of Yami's body. When he tried to pull away, Yami's arms tightened.

"Be careful," Yami cautioned, his lips brushing Yugi's ear. "If you fall, you might break your neck."

Yugi shivered -- though whether from the warning or from the feel of Yami's breath caressing his cheek, he couldn't say.

Mana glared at them and shook her finger as she scolded, "What were you thinking? It's too dangerous for you to go up there. I must insist you come back to the group at once."

That seemed entirely unfair to Yugi. He had to find out what that note had meant. "But, Yami was--"

"Dr. Viridian is a highly-trained Egyptologist. I'm sure he knows what he is doing," Mana said, tapping her foot. "Now, come along. We'll be leaving in a few minutes."

Yami trailed along after them, following them back to the main hall, clearly not trusting Yugi to do as he was told. That was the final straw for Yugi. "What were you doing in there anyway? You're supposed to be looking for my grandpa, not skulking around in hidden passages like a thief in the shadows!"

For a moment, Yami looked as if he didn't know whether to be angry or amused. Then his expression cleared, and he leaned down and dropped a kiss on the tip of Yugi's nose. Yugi sputtered.

"_You_ were supposed to wait for me at the Old Winter Palace," Yami reminded him, looking far too pleased with himself over Yugi's reaction. "It seems neither one of us is very good at 'supposed to.'"

"I just want to know where my grandpa is." Yugi felt tired and shaken -- and scared that he'd lost the only family he'd ever really had. "Tell me the truth, Yami. I have to know!"

Yami cupped his hand under Yugi's chin, lifting it so their eyes met. His thumb traced a gentle path across Yugi's cheek. "All right. We can talk on the ship, if you'll come to my cabin before dinner."

Not trusting his voice, Yugi nodded.

-------------------------

On the way back to the _River Horse_, Yami tried to derail his frustration by speculating about who his contact might be. He had no doubt Yugi's presence had kept whoever it was from approaching him at the temple. Somehow, he would have to keep Yugi safely out of the way.

From the corner of his eye, he watched the short figure a few seats away on the tour bus. Deep in conversation with Ryou, Yugi didn't appear aware of Yami's attention. He thought about their planned meeting later. Should he tell Yugi the truth? Would he back off -- stay _safe_ -- if he knew?

Somehow, Yami doubted it. Yugi Mutou didn't strike him as the type to back down when a loved one was in danger. And while Yami admired that, he feared it would get Yugi killed. Who knew how far the cult would go to protect itself? If the story Ahmed told was true, murder was nothing new to the cult.

What did they want from Sugoroku? His knowledge of the Millennium Item legends? Yami knew they believed the Items were real. They wanted all seven of them, including the all-important Millennium Puzzle. They'd demanded he steal the necklace from the museum, claiming it was the Millennium Necklace, the fabled Item that allowed its owner to see into other realities -- the past, the future, some said even the afterlife. Sugoroku claimed he could find the Puzzle. Had they kidnapped him to ensure he gave it to them once he'd found it -- or to make sure he never revealed the secret of its location to anyone else?

Yami knew he couldn't get Yugi involved in any of that. It was too risky, especially since Yami still didn't know if Sugoroku was a victim or a willing participant working for the cult. So, what was he going to tell Yugi? Yami suppressed a groan. He'd have to think of something...

By the time they returned to the _River Horse_, Yami still hadn't thought of a plan other than to kiss Yugi senseless, then lock him in the cabin until all this was over. Of course, the plan had a major flaw -- namely that Yugi would kill him, then run off to save Sugoroku on his own, and get _himself_ killed in the process. Not exactly a win-win situation.

Yami sulked toward his cabin, blessing whatever whim had made Pegasus give him the owner's suite with its slightly more spacious interior. He didn't think he could handle being crammed into one of the ship's closet-sized cabins right now. He had never been claustrophobic -- a good thing, since his line of work frequently called for him to crawl around in tight spaces -- but all this cloak and dagger intrigue was starting to make him feel hemmed in on all sides, and it was beginning to get to him.

He locked the cabin door behind him and went to flop onto the bed, then froze when he saw the new sheet of papyrus waiting for him in the middle of the burgundy duvet. He snatched up the pale sheet of pounded reed fibers and stared at it. No words this time, just a simple ink drawing of a bird. A falcon.

It took him a moment to realize the drawing was one big hieroglyph -- the word _hor_. Horus, the falcon god. The Ptolemaic temple of Horus at Edfu was on their itinerary. So, that was the message: he'd have to wait until they reached Edfu to meet his contact. He sighed. At least that should give him enough time to fend Yugi off so he didn't interrupt things again.

Running a distracted hand through his hair, Yami looked around. How had the papyrus gotten into his cabin? No one could've climbed in through a convenient balcony this time. An idea sparked, and he dashed downstairs to the front desk, just managing to nab the crewman on duty before he went off-shift. "Has anyone besides the crew and passengers been onboard today?"

"No, sir!" The young man at the desk stiffened with offended dignity. "Mr. Crawford is very strict. No one may board the ship without a pass."

"You're sure?"

"I personally supervised the gangway while we were docked at Dendera, sir. No one came aboard who should not have been here."

So much for that idea. He had a back-up, however. "What about the other tour groups?"

"The Italian group left before the English-speaking group. They have not yet returned to the ship. The French left afterward, and are not due back until later this evening."

Which meant none of them could've known the meeting was a bust, and made it back before him in order to leave the note on his bed. _Damn it all to fuck_. He pulled himself together enough to thank the crewman, then trudged back to his cabin. This time, nothing stopped him from sprawling on the bed.

He hung lengthwise across the mattress, feet dangling over one side, head and arms off the other. He felt like a wet noodle, with about as much brainpower. _Macaroni_. That's what he'd been in his past life. _Evil_ macaroni. And this was his punishment for planning noodly world domination.

With a groan, he rolled onto his back and buried his face in his hands. Obviously, he'd lost his mind. Mahaad always said he was going to fry his brain working in the sun without a hat. Should've listened to him.

Okay. This was getting him nowhere but closer to the loony bin. First things first. Shower. Change clothes. Resume grip on sanity. Then figure out who among the passengers was the ringer, because one of them _had_ to be a cult member. It was the only explanation for the note. Their little tour group no longer seemed so innocent. It would be nice if he knew whether the meeting at Edfu was to be an exchange -- Sugoroku for the necklace -- or simply another set of instructions: do not pass 'go', do not collect a Millennium Item.

He stood and stripped off his shirt. Maybe he could just drown himself in the shower...

When someone knocked on the door, he opened it automatically.

-------------------------

The door swung open and Yugi found himself face to... clavicle... with Yami. He gulped. Yami had very nice clavicles. And shoulders. And a great chest, all firm, lean muscles beneath smooth bronze skin. He licked his lips, which had gone inexplicably dry.

"Yugi?"

With a supreme effort, Yugi forced his eyes to remember where Yami's face was. "Huh?"

"I said, come in," Yami repeated, stepping back from the doorway. He grabbed a shirt out of his bag and shrugged into it as he spoke. "Shut the door. We don't want the whole ship overhearing our discussion."

_Oh, is _that_ what you kids are calling it these days?_

Oh, god. He could _not_ deal with this right now. Yugi's eyes went wide with panic. _Seto, if you have ever remotely tolerated me as something even slightly less than a mortal enemy_..._ pleaseplease_please_, GO AWAY._

When no response came, Yugi breathed a sigh of relief. He focused outward to find Yami buttoning up his shirt and watching him with a strange expression on his handsome features. "Um. So, you said you'd tell me the truth--"

"The truth is, you're not helping your grandfather by running all over Egypt trying to find him," Yami snapped. The sudden flash of temper shocked Yugi into temporary silence. "You need to go back to Luxor and stay there, like you should've stayed in Cairo!"

Yugi's heart thudded in his chest. It suddenly hurt to breathe. Yami was his only link to Sugoroku. "Oh, god. You don't know where he is..."

Yami's ire faded as swiftly as it had flared. "I'm sorry, Yugi."

"I don't want your pity."

In a quiet voice, Yami asked, "What _do_ you want from me?"

"Let me help you." Yugi closed his eyes and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Let me see my grandpa's rooms at Peabody House in Luxor. I've known him all my life. Maybe I can, I don't know, get some idea where he went or something. But I can't just sit around and do nothing while I know that he's missing. I have to do something. I have to at least _try_."

"All right." Yami sounded as tired as Yugi felt. "When we get back to Luxor tomorrow, I'll take you to Peabody House."

The weight of all his worries crashed down on Yugi. He swayed and stuck out a hand to steady himself. Instead of the wall, he encountered warm, bare skin. Heat flashed from his fingertips to his groin, and his eyes flew wide. His hand was resting against the wedge of Yami's chest revealed by the open neck of his shirt.

Yugi yanked his hand back -- or tried to. Yami caught it and pressed his mouth to Yugi's palm. His lips lingered tenderly over the scar he found there, a souvenir of Yugi's efforts to rescue Mokuba two years ago. Their gazes met and held in a timeless moment. Yugi wasn't aware of either of them moving, but suddenly he was in Yami's arms and Yami's mouth was on his.

The kiss seared him to his toes. He felt himself melting into Yami's embrace, his body molding against the other's as Yami's hands traced paths of fire along his back. He was going to--

--_be ill if you don't stop this nonsense _right now,_ and come back to your damn senses!_

The mental voice was like an icy wave dousing the flames of passion.

_I cannot _believe_ you just seriously used the phrase 'flames of passion,' Mutou. What the hell are you _on?

Yugi dropped his head onto Yami's chest and groaned piteously.

As if sensing that Yugi's concentration had shifted elsewhere, Yami released him. "Go back to your cabin and get a good night's sleep," he said, giving Yugi a gentle shove toward the door. "In the morning, we'll go to Peabody House and look for clues."

Right. That was the important thing. Clues. Peabody House. Morning.

But, as he wandered back to his lonely bed, Yugi had a feeling something else would dominate his dreams tonight.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Much to Yugi's surprise, Yami knocked on the cabin door promptly the next morning. They trekked through the streets of Luxor, crowded with people out to get things done before the oppressive summer heat set in for the day. Most of the tour had decided to spend the day shopping. Yami and Yugi encountered Rex and Weevil haggling with a vendor over a preserved scorpion. Weevil waved the arthropod under Yugi's nose. "Gorgeous, isn't it?"

They managed to get away without buying a scorpion, but then ran straight into the midst of the group from New York, who were milling about in the middle of the street, looking confused. Tea said they were trying to find Luxor Temple. Since it was just north of the Old Winter Palace, where they had all been staying, and right on the Corniche el Nil, Yugi didn't see how they'd missed it.

Yami supplied instructions for finding the ruins, then, after the quartet had wandered off in approximately the right direction, turned to Yugi with a harried look in his eyes. "Let's get out of here before--"

"Good morning, Yugi." A cheerful Ryou waved as he trotted over to join them. Bakura trailed behind him like shadow with a bad attitude. "Hallo, Dr. Viridian. Mind if we join you? It's a lovely morning for a stroll, isn't it?"

"What my brother means to say is, why are the two of you skulking about in dark alleyways like a pair of amateur cat burglars?" Bakura looked them up and down. "Mutou's even dressed for it. Don't you know black absorbs heat -- or are you _trying_ for sunstroke?"

Since Yugi had used the 'open drawer, dump contents in suitcase' method of packing for his trip, his sartorial choices were a bit limited. He laughed. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

Bakura gave an elaborate eye roll and pretended to find the cobblestones suddenly fascinating. Ryou hefted the conversational burden again. "So... What do you think of this rash of antiquities thefts among private collectors? Horrible, isn't it? One day you're enjoying a prized collection, the next your favorite piece is gone."

Everyone but Bakura stared at him. Ryou blinked. "...What?"

"I told you those Agatha Christie books were going to rot your brain." Bakura caught his elbow and swung him around to face the coffee shop across the street. "Tea. Now."

"See you later, Yugi!" Ryou called as his brother towed him tea-ward. Yugi caught a glimpse of long blonde hair through the coffee shop window. It appeared Mai was already inside. Perhaps that explained Bakura's sudden thirst.

"Come on, while the coast is clear!" Yami grabbed Yugi's hand and ran for it.

They made it to Peabody House in record time. Yami led him through the iron gate and across the small courtyard to a side door Yugi hadn't seen before. Inside, they climbed a narrow flight of stairs. At the top, Yami hesitated, then pointed to a closed door. "That's Sugoroku's room."

The door wasn't locked. Yugi took the lead, pushing the door open and looking inside. He recognized a pair of Sugoroku's tattered house slippers peeking out from beneath the edge of the bed. The terry robe Yugi had given him for his birthday last year hung on the back of the door. Shaking off the sudden fear that gripped him -- fear he'd never again see his grandpa alive -- Yugi crossed to the desk under the room's single window. His brows drew together as he studied the neat stacks of papers arrayed on the desktop.

"Did you go through these?" he asked, turning to look at Yami. "Grandpa's desk at home is never this neat."

Yami frowned. "I went through them, but I didn't leave it like that."

"Is there a housekeeping staff? Maybe they straightened it up?" Not waiting for a response, he began sifting through the papers and notebooks. Finding nothing of interest, he moved on to the overflowing drawers. "...Nothing."

"What exactly are you looking for?" Yami came to peer over his shoulder as Yugi rifled through the other drawer.

"Anything that'll tell me where he was going when he left..." Yugi's voice trailed off as he pulled a stack of airmail envelopes, held together by a rubber band, from the drawer. His letters to Sugoroku. Yugi's hand trembled and his eyelids prickled. He blinked rapidly, dropped the letters back into the drawer, and dragged the back of his hand over his eyes.

"Yugi?"

Swinging around so Yami couldn't see his face, Yugi caught sight of the tiny kitchenette half-hidden behind the partially closed curtain on the other side of the room. A memory sparked and, with it, hope. Shoving aside the worry, he ran over to the apartment-sized refrigerator. Curious, Yami followed.

The refrigerator's freezer compartment was barely the size of an ice chest, and looked as if it had never been defrosted. Hoar frost crowded the space so there was barely room for a couple of small packages of food and a pair of empty ice cube trays. Yugi almost laughed. His grandpa never remembered to fill the ice trays when he was at home, either. Shaking his head at the memory, Yugi grabbed a package and began prying off the brown freezer paper in which it had been wrapped.

"What are you doing?" Yami demanded. "If you're _that_ hungry, I'll buy you lunch."

_Nope, not the one. _Yugi ignored him and reached for the second package. He peeled back the freezer paper, then grinned. "Found it!"

Yami stared at the package in Yugi's hands. Between the freezer paper and the plastic wrapped meat lay several neatly folded sheets of notebook paper covered in Sugoroku's writing. "How did you know it would be here?"

"When I was little, Grandpa would make up games for me to play. One of our favorites was creating and deciphering secret codes. To make it even more challenging, he'd hide the coded messages in weird places for me to find. Including the freezer." Yugi grinned.

A third package yielded two more sheets of Sugoroku's densely crowded notes. Yugi shoved the food back into the freezer while Yami took the papers over to the desk where the light was better. Yugi joined him, and they spread the papers out, trying to make sense of Sugoroku's cramped writing and rough doodles.

After a few minutes, Yugi scratched at the back of his head and slanted a considering look up at his companion. "He's trying to find the Millennium Puzzle, isn't he?"

"The Millennium Puzzle doesn't exist. It's a myth!"

"Like that necklace that was stolen from the Museum of Antiquities?" Yugi didn't miss the guilty flinch or the way Yami looked away, unable to hold his gaze. He pointed to a drawing on one of the pages: a necklace with an elaborate Egyptian eye at its center. "According to the newspapers, that necklace looked a lot like this one. And Grandpa's notes say it's the Millennium Necklace."

"This is crazy," Yami muttered, shoving away from the desk and starting to pace. "Even if there are objects that were once called Millennium Items, they don't have magical powers. So why would--"

He broke off abruptly, as if just realizing he was speaking aloud. Yugi stared at him. "What don't you want me to find out?"

Yami stood, hands on hips and neck bent, his dark auburn hair falling over his eyes so Yugi couldn't read his expression. Finally, he lifted his head. "Yugi--"

The door swung open so forcefully it banged into the wall behind it.

"Oops! Don't know my own strength sometimes." Yami's secretary grinned sheepishly at them. "I thought I heard voices up here. See ya found Dr. Viridian, there, Yugi." His gaze shifted to Yami. "Lieutenant Bahur is here to see ya. I stuck him in your office and gave him some of that tea he likes. I was expecting you back sooner, though, Doc."

Yami scooped up Sugoroku's papers before Yugi could protest, snagged Yugi's arm, and propelled them both through the open door. As he hustled Yugi along the hallway to a wide staircase, he called back over his shoulder, "Thanks, Joey. Bring another teacup to my office, will you?"

"Sure thing, Doc!"

Yami's office was at the foot of the staircase and across a broad, dark-paneled foyer. He went straight to his desk, which resembled the aftermath of an explosion in a manila folder factory, and buried Sugoroku's papers somewhere amid the chaotic jumble of files, sketches, reports, books, and other bits of office detritus. The mess looked a lot like Yugi's own workspace back in Domino. A wave of homesickness rolled over him.

"I have to be meticulous on project site," Yami said, sounding a touch defensive as he misread Yugi's pensive expression. "I see no reason to be the same way in my own office. Besides I--"

"'--know right where everything is.'" Lieutenant Bahur chorused the rest of the sentence along with him, and then chuckled at Yami's grunt. "I _have_ heard that one before, you know."

"You're just jealous."

"Of _this?_" Lieutenant Bahur cast a look of mock horror at the clutter, then smiled at Yugi. "Do not worry. I am sure Mr. Wheeler has diligently dusted the tea table for us."

A rude snort came from Yami's direction. "_Joey?_ Admit it, Mahaad. _You_ dusted the tea table." He shook his head. "Neat-freak-ness. I always hoped you'd grow out of it, but it's obviously a sickness."

Mahaad ignored him. "I am pleased to see you again, Mr. Mutou. I called at the Old Winter Palace, but was told you had checked out."

Yami and Mahaad exchanged a look filled with all kinds of coded meaning. It made Yugi want to smack their heads together. What were they hiding from him? Yami said, "He's taking a Nile cruise on the _River Horse_."

"With you?" Mahaad asked, arching an eyebrow.

"_Yes_." Yami aimed an exasperated smirk Yugi's way. "Small world, isn't it?"

The tea still wasn't green, but at least it was hot. Yugi gulped down two cups to Yami's one and had started on a third, when Mahaad said, "So, I am very interested to hear what you discovered on your trip to Dendera..."

"Certainly not Sugoroku," Yami growled, slumping back in his chair and glaring at his teacup as if it had insulted several generations of his ancestry. "Although, I _am_ thinking of taking your advice and buying a hat."

Mahaad blinked at him over the rim of his own teacup. "Truly? I can recommend a good shop, although I am now dying to know what has finally brought you to your senses."

"You don't want to know." Yami shifted his glare to the ceiling. "Trust me."

Mahaad glanced at Yugi, who shrugged. He had no idea what Yami was talking about, either. "Like he said, we didn't find Grandpa -- or any clues as to where he's gone."

"Perhaps it is time to call in the authorities." Mahaad hesitated. "Or do you have a plan of your own, Yami?"

Yugi held his breath, his fingers clenching around his teacup. Was he finally going to find out what Yami was hiding? He leaned forward, every sense quivering as he focused on Yami.

"Yo, boss man!" The shout from the foyer broke the spell. Yugi nearly fell off his chair. He did drop his cup, but Mahaad swooped down a hand and caught it before it could shatter on the floor. Joey stuck his head in the open doorway. "That Isis babe from the SCA is here to see ya. And some chick named Mana is lookin' for the Yug-ster."

"Isis?" Yami shot a betrayed look at Mahaad. "What's _she_ doing here?"

"Miss Ishtar phoned and requested a meeting with the two of us." Mahaad sipped serenely at his Earl Grey. "How could I refuse?"

"With extreme alacrity?" Yami suggested. "Maybe if we close the door and pretend we're not here--"

"Good day, gentlemen," Isis Ishtar sailed through the doorway. She was impeccably dressed in a designer pantsuit and Hermes scarf. Mana scooted in behind her, looking by turns guilty and relieved. Yugi thought Mahaad's gaze lingered a moment longer on Mana than it had on Isis. "Mr. Mutou, it's _so_ good to see you again. I trust you are enjoying your stay in Egypt?"

Before Yugi could do more than open his mouth, Yami interrupted. "You shouldn't keep Mana waiting, Yugi. She looks upset."

_Uh-oh_. She really did look upset, Yugi realized, taking in her pinched mouth and harried expression.

"I'm sorry for barging in like this," Mana said, "but Mr. Crawford has requested that all tour members meet earlier than originally announced for a special presentation on Karnak before our visit there tonight."

"Well, I--"

"I'm certain you won't want to miss it," Mana said, her smile returning. "The local guide who is giving the presentation is one of my brothers."

In that case, refusing would be a personal insult to her family. Yugi sighed. "I'm sure it'll be great." He got reluctantly to his feet. "Coming, Yami?"

"Oh, Dr. Viridian doesn't need to come," Mana said blithely. "He already knows all about Karnak."

Mahaad held out his hand, forestalling her when she would have ushered Yugi outside. "Tell me, Miss, how did you know to look for Mr. Mutou here?"

"You see, I was looking for him all over the place. When I tried the _souk_, one of the others from our group told me to try here."

"I see."

"Yugi, you should stay with the group for the rest of the day. I'll meet you tonight at Karnak for the Sound and Light show," Yami said. He nodded to Mana. "Try not to let him get away from you again."

"Hey!" Yugi objected. "I'm not a pet!"

The look Yami settled on him was undecipherable, but it sent a nova burst of ... _something_... flashing along Yugi's nerves. He shivered, feeling the heat settle in his abdomen. "...I'm going back to the _River Horse_. I'll... see you tonight. You'll bring the, uh, _thing_. Right?"

Yami smiled. "You can count on it."

------------------------

As soon as Yugi and Mana were out the door, Yami glanced at Isis, his smile turning frosty. "So, Isis... What brings you all the way to Luxor to inflict, er, _bestow_ your presence upon us?"

"I have been sent to inspect the monuments for possible earthquake damage," Isis informed him stiffly. She waved away an offer of tea from Mahaad. "I've no time for pleasantries."

"Don't let us keep you, then." Yami sprang to his feet, ready to usher her out the door. Isis pointedly took a seat. He fell back into his chair and gave her a sulky glare. "If you weren't intending to go, you shouldn't have gotten my hopes up."

She sighed. "I've been sent to confer with the engineers inspecting all the temple sites between here and Aswan. I have also been instructed to meet with Interpol agents regarding the recent thefts of Egyptian antiquities from private collectors in Europe. However--"

"You are in contact with Interpol? When are the agents to meet with you?" Mahaad demanded, his eyes narrowing. "Why was my office not informed of this?"

Confusion flickered over Isis's aristocratic features. "I only know what I've been told -- I will be contacted when they wish my assistance." A graceful shrug, then her gaze shifted to Yami. "It is possible they may wish to question the Institute staff once more about our own unfortunate thefts. Until such time, it appears we shall both be passengers aboard the _River Horse_."

Yami's joy knew no bounds. Well, okay, it did -- and they were about wide enough for a sand grain to fit inside if it went on the Atkins diet _and_ held its breath. Not only would he be trapped on the cruiser with the she-beast, but she would also have Yugi at her mercy! Yami cursed his luck -- in his past life as an Evil Noodle Overlord, his macaroni minions must have swept the globe, raining destruction and tasty sauces in their wake. He glowered at the universe in general and Isis in particular. _Damn it all to fuck_.

He looked up to find he'd missed part of the conversation. Both Isis and Mahaad were watching him with expectation writ large in their identical expressions. He raised both eyebrows and ventured, "...Yay?"

Isis shook her head. "I fear the stress is getting to you, Dr. Viridian. Perhaps, when the current situation is resolved, you should take a vacation."

Seeing Mahaad was about to second the motion, Yami cut him off with a quick, "Good idea. In the meantime, don't let us keep you from your work."

"Yes, I believe I will begin by meeting with the engineers at Karnak." Her cool smile was every bit as false as his. "Might I impose upon you to accompany me? I would value your input."

Yami would rather feed himself feet first to a Nile crocodile, but he shrugged and forced himself to nod. "Sure. I was planning to have a look around there myself, anyway."

"But..." Mahaad looked torn between anger and confusion. "Why would Interpol not come to me first? The police--"

"I assure you, I don't know," Isis said. "I agree with you entirely, Lieutenant. They should have gone to you, and I would rather they had. But --" A helpless gesture that contrived to show off her slender wrists and manicured hands. "-- I must perform my duties, yes?"

Yami had had enough. Interpol had given him the same vague run-around._ Don't ask questions. Do what you're told. We'll be in touch._ And, while Interpol dallied at its leisure, Sugoroku was still missing. Yami was tired of being jerked around by Interpol _and_ the damn cult. Finding Sugoroku's notes had made up Yami's mind for him. Sugoroku was a lot of things, including stubborn and, at times, overzealous, but he wasn't stupid. Yami doubted he would've committed his theories to paper -- and documented his activities so thoroughly -- if any of it connected him to illegal activities. Knowing Sugoroku really was an innocent victim made Yami even more determined to save him.

Sugoroku must have suspected his research was putting him in danger. That had to be why he'd hidden his papers in the freezer, and become so secretive about his movements. Maybe he had even known the cult would come after him.

And now they had him.

Yami scowled. Something in those papers could point him in the right direction. All he had to do was find it. And figure out how to keep Yugi out of harm's way. Only then could he go after Sugoroku without hesitation.

Piece of cake pasta.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Isis at his side, Yami walked up the avenue of ram-headed sphinxes into the Temple of Amun at Karnak. There were few visitors, though whether because of the heat -- summer was the off-season for a reason -- or the earthquake, he didn't know. A cursory glance as they passed through the first pylon showed no obvious damage.

"Thank you for accompanying me," Isis said, without preamble. Startled from his musings, Yami glanced at her and was surprised by the sincerity of her expression. "To be honest, I do not feel quite up to dealing with engineers today."

"Is everything all right? You're not ill or anything --?"

"No, no." She shook her head, dark hair gleaming like ebony in the sun. "It is nothing like that. I merely..." She sighed and toyed with the scarf draped artfully about her neck. "I received some upsetting news from home. My younger brother is... unwell. He has been so for some time, but it is growing worse."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." Suddenly, he felt like a heel for all the things he'd been thinking about her. Maybe he'd been unfair. Of course, she _had_ hit on him the very first time they'd met. And she hadn't been too happy to find out he preferred the company of men, as she reminded him with sly little digs on each subsequent meeting. Still... "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, but I thank you for asking." This time, her smile seemed genuine. "Let us find the engineers, conclude our inspections, and get out of this heat."

"Good idea." He smiled in return, automatically noting that they had entered the hypostyle hall between the second and third pylons.

A forest of giant sandstone columns surrounded them, soaring to vertigo-inducing heights. On either side of the center aisle where they stood, the tallest of the columns towered almost seventy feet overhead. The capitals at the top, which had once supported the heavy roof, took the form of open papyrus plants. They were so massive that fifty people could have stood atop the largest. If even one of them had toppled during the quake, the damage to the temple would have been enormous.

"I am thankful the hall appears undamaged," Isis said, echoing his thoughts.

Yami agreed. The Great Hypostyle Hall was one of the most impressive architectural achievements in Egypt, and the largest example of its kind -- a hall or chamber with its ceiling supported by columns -- in the world. There were 134 papyriform columns in all, the smallest of which was almost fifty feet tall. Each column was covered in hieroglyphs and the symbols of creation, though the original paint had long since disappeared and the lower glyphs had been damaged or destroyed. In ancient times, the spaces between the columns would have swarmed with statues of gods and kings. The intact roof would have left the chamber with only muted lighting from the clerestory windows high above, filtering sunlight down into this stone representation of a primordial papyrus marsh. He shivered, imagining the hushed atmosphere of the shadowed chamber as priests garbed in pure white linen performed their daily rituals. He could almost smell frankincense and myrrh, and hear the rhythmic rise and fall of voices chanting hymns.

They moved through the third pylon, and found the engineers milling about the Obelisk Court, fussing over the red granite obelisk that had been erected by Tuthmosis I. It leaned slightly. That wasn't from the earthquake, though the engineers were making certain the 75-foot tall monument wouldn't decide to finish the job and join its companion across the courtyard, which had fallen in antiquity,.

They spent several hours with the engineers, checking the temple complex and tagging some of the monuments for more careful attention later. It was sweaty work. The air tasted of heat and dust, and seemed to leech the moisture directly out of Yami's skin. He paused beside the rectangular sacred lake, nostrils flaring as they caught the refreshing scent of water. In ancient times, the lake supplied water for the priests' ablutions and other temple needs. Now, the seating for the Sound and Light Show stood atop the excavated remains of the priests' housing along its shore.

Isis joined him. She looked tired, her suit no longer crisp and her face streaked with sweat. She brushed her fingers over her brow, then said, "We accomplished a great deal today. I believe we can safely leave the engineers to their tasks now."

"I'm just glad there's so little damage." Yami glanced at his watch. "I should get going -- I promised to meet Yugi."

"It is regrettable Mr. Mutou should arrive to visit his grandfather at such an inopportune time, with Dr. Mutou missing and the normal flow of things disrupted by the earthquake -- not to mention this rash of antiquities thefts."

"Yes." Yami turned and strode back toward the main entrance. "It is a shame."

"Tell me, Dr. Viridian," she persisted, keeping up with him with only a little effort. "What will you do now?"

Deliberately misunderstanding, he said, "Shower and change."

He left her standing beside the feet of a broken statue, watching him with speculative eyes.

-------------------------

Yugi spent the afternoon in the salon, trapped on the green sofa between Téa and Rebecca, listening to Mana's brother lecture on the temples of Karnak. He didn't think it was deliberate, but Mai had pulled a chair so close that he would've had to knock her over to get up. He squirmed in his seat, uncomfortable at the press of bodies, and tried to concentrate on what the tour guide was saying. But the guide didn't have even a portion of the charisma Yami displayed when lecturing, and Yugi soon found his attention wandering again.

Half the room's occupants were openly dozing despite the buzz of sound that filled it. The guide was speaking not-entirely-idiomatic English, interpreters were translating his words into French and Italian for those tour groups, and some of the tourists were chattering among themselves in their native languages. The cacophony was starting to give Yugi a headache. He massaged his temples as he glanced around.

Bakura sat at the bar, his expression as enigmatic as that of the Sphinx, and sipped something clear from a short glass. On the barstool next to him, Siegfried did the same, only the liquid in his glass was amber. Rex was slumped against the arm of the gold sofa, snoring like a motorcycle with a bad muffler. Beside him, Weevil was reading a field guide to North African insects. On the chair next to Mai's, Vivian hunched over a Moleskine notebook, her pen scratching diligently across the page as she took notes.

Yugi shifted again, debating whether to simply fling himself over the back of the sofa and make a run for it. Rebecca glared at him from over her glasses. "Don't be rude! I can't concentrate with you wiggling around like a worm on a hook."

Resigned to his fate, Yugi slumped back into the plush cushion. He peeked at his watch. How much longer was this talk going to last? Where had Yami gotten off to -- more importantly, what was he _doing?_ And could Yugi trust him to show up as promised this time?

He hated to leave Sugoroku's notes in Yami's hands. Yugi wanted to go over those pages and hunt for clues to Sugoroku's whereabouts. What if something happened to them before he got the chance? What if _Yami_ did something to them? Yugi's instincts were telling him he could trust Yami, but the evidence pointed to the contrary. He'd said he would meet Yugi tonight at Karnak. Yugi could only hope Yami would keep his word.

The instant the lecture ended, Yugi bolted to his feet. His sneaker clipped Téa's ankle as he hopped over her feet, used Mai's shoulder for balance, and half-jumped, half-fell over the low table between the sofas. He stumbled upright and would've scampered for the door, but Ryou was suddenly blocking his escape route.

"Yugi, Bakura and I would enjoy your company during the tour of Karnak this evening."

"Thanks, Ryou." Yugi appreciated the gesture, but he had other plans for tonight. "I'd like to, but I'm meeting Dr. Viridian there."

"Dr. Viridian, eh?" Mai appeared at his side, cutting off that avenue. "Such an _interesting_ man, isn't he? _I'd_ certainly enjoy getting to know him better. Say, hon, is this a private tour or can anyone sign up?"

Something unfamiliar and cold stabbed through Yugi's chest. It took him a moment to recognize it as jealousy. He pushed it back and forced himself to smile. "I'm sure Dr. Viridian would be happy to show you around Karnak."

"_Mmm_." Mai practically purred. "I'll bet he would... You don't mind if I tag along, do you?"

That cold feeling was back. Eyes narrowed, he said, "No, of course not. Why would I mind? I'm sorry, I need to... get something from my cabin."

He shouldered between them and scurried away. He made it as far as the stairs, but Siegfried and Vivian stopped him before he could head down. Siegfried asked, "Have you seen my sister?"

Did he have a sign over his head that said 'please keep me in this room'? Maybe Mana had put them all up to it. "She's over there," he said, gesturing vaguely back the way he'd come. "Talking to Ryou."

He bolted down the stairs. This time, he made it to the first landing before someone waylaid him.

"Hey, it's the Game King!" Rex grinned at him. Today's t-shirt featured the _Jurassic Park_ logo. "Dude, I've been meaning to ask -- Can I get your autograph?"

"Um, sure. Later, though, okay? I'm kind of in a hurry--"

A step behind his friend, Weevil piped up, "Have you seen Dr. Viridian? I've got some questions to ask him about that giant scarab statue at Karnak."

Yugi manfully resisted the urge to groan. "He'll be at the temple tonight if you really need to talk to him."

"Cool."

"How come you're in such a hurry, anyway?" Rex added. "It's not time to leave yet."

"Oh, I... I need to get something. From my room." Yugi edged around them as he spoke. "Gotta run!"

He took the stairs two at a time (and, with his short legs, that wasn't easy), skidded around the corner into the short corridor for his cabin -- and nearly collided with Bakura. For one panicked second, it seemed to Yugi that the other man was coming out of his room. "...Bakura?"

Bakura swaggered toward him, a roll in his step that would have been right at home on a pirate ship. Only then did Yugi spot the silver flask in Bakura's hand. Following Yugi's surprised look, Bakura deftly slid the flask into his trouser pocket.

"Hallo, Yugi. Ryou's not around, is he?" He darted a glance over Yugi's shoulder as if expecting Ryou to pop up and scold him.

"No, he's still upstairs." Yugi fumbled with his doorknob, glad to find it locked. "We're supposed to leave for Karnak soon."

"I'm beside myself with glee." Bakura rolled his eyes ceilingward, then pulled out his flask again. "I have such a _thirst_ for history." He winked. "Be seeing you, Yugi."

Yugi didn't watch him go. He spun into his cabin and locked the door behind him. Nothing seemed out of place. His hair gel was in its usual spot on the nightstand, and his tote was where he'd left it. He peeked into the tiny shower, and even looked in the closet. Everything seemed just as he'd left it. Then he remembered his grandpa's letters.

Grabbing his carry-on tote, Yugi dug frantically through the contents. Fear stabbed through him when he couldn't find the letters, and he started tossing things onto the bed. Phone. Notebook. Box of half-melted Pocky... Where were the letters?

Finally, cheap stationary crinkled beneath his fingers. With a triumphant cry, he held up the thin bundle. Yes! Relief flooded him. They were still safe.

He collapsed onto the bed... then winced, and shifted off the Game Boy digging into his hip. Taking a closer look at the precious letters, he froze. He'd left a certain envelope on top of the stack, held in place by the rubber band. The envelope was his favorite, because his grandpa had used a sticker of the first Duel Monster Yugi had designed -- the Dark Magician -- to decorate it. His grandpa was weird that way. But it always made Yugi smile, which, now that he thought about it, was probably the point.

Only the envelope at the top of the stack didn't have the Dark Magician sticker on it.

Yugi slipped off the rubber band and shuffled through the envelopes. The one with the sticker was near the middle. A shiver ice-skated along his spine. Someone _had_ been in his room, in his things. His fellow passengers had conspired to keep him occupied while someone went through his bags, touched his belongings. They hadn't taken anything, but he still felt violated. Torn between upset and anger, he shivered again.

A soft knock at the door made him start so violently he fell off the bed.

"Mr. Mutou?" Mana's voice came through the door. "Are you all right? It's time to go to Karnak now."

_Oh, yeah_, Yugi thought, dragging himself up off the floor. He'd go to Karnak. He'd go to Karnak and find Yami. Then, if he had to, he'd shake some answers out of him.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The bus ride to Karnak was sheer torture. Yugi's suspicious gaze fell on each of his fellow tourists in turn. He felt as if any one of them might turn on him at any minute. Mai returned his look with a languid smile that reminded him uncomfortably of a cat sated on a surfeit of canary. Beside her, Bakura dozed, his head lolling against the window. Was it because of the alcohol he'd consumed on the boat, or was it all a ruse? With Ryou occupied chatting with the girls from New York, Yugi spent the entire trip conjuring up theories about who had searched his room and why.

Someone, maybe one of the people around him, didn't want him to find his grandpa.

Yugi's hands twitched on his lap. He curled his fingers into his palms, and resisted the urge to hug himself. He _needed_ a hug. He wished his grandpa were there to give him one.

What had Sugoroku gotten himself into?

They got off the bus in an unlit parking lot. Across the way, colossal stone walls reared against the night sky. Strategically placed floodlights turned the stone to gold, seeming to glow with a mellow aura in the darkness. That was their destination. _Karnak_.

In addition to Yugi's group, other clusters of tourists converged on the entrance to the temple complex. Panic throbbed in his stomach at the number of people milling around. How could he find Yami in all this? What if Yami wasn't even here?

Pegasus joined them at the entrance, and he and Mana stepped forward to address the group. "The show will commence shortly," Pegasus said in his plumy, showman's voice. "It shall unfold as we progress to the open courtyard, through the Great Hypostyle Hall, and into the very heart of the temple complex until, finally, our journey concludes on the shore of the sacred lake."

"Please make sure you have your flashlights at all times," Mana piped up. "The way is uneven and, at times, poorly lighted."

Yugi curled his fingers around the flashlight in his jeans pocket, holding on to it as if it were a talisman to ward off his fears. No sooner had he grasped the flashlight than the floods went out, plunging everything into darkness. A single spotlight played across the surface of the high pylon gates. From unseen loudspeakers, symphonic music swelled.

A female voice spoke. "May the evening soothe and welcome you, oh travelers."

"You will travel no further, because you are come. Here, you are at the beginning of time." The second voice was male, intoning the words with sonorous import. "You now enter the place where, for two thousand years, only priests and pharaohs trod. Hear the whispered response of the ever-present god. Come, oh visitor, do not be overwhelmed by the immense size of this holy place. It was designed, not for men, but for gods."

Carried along with the crowd, Yugi soon found himself in the inner courtyard, a place of stone and shadows. A colossal statue of Ramses the Great loomed at his back. The disembodied voices of the presentation continued.

"All the magnificence of the pharaohs lies before you at Karnak. ' I am the Father of fathers. The Mother of mothers...'" The voices joined, speaking in unison. "I cause all to be, that men should have a path on which to tread. Come. Follow me."

They walked slowly through the gloom of the hypostyle hall, lit only by hidden spotlights, and made mysterious by the shadows of the giant columns. The voices told the story of the "Great Week of the Creation of the World, the separation of the Earth from the Waters." They heard the voice of the god Amun, and the voices of the pharaohs Seti and Ramses. Yugi felt as if he had been transported back through time, to an age when the temple awoke with the dawn to praise the god for creating the world anew.

The murmurs of the crowd brought him crashing back to the present as they entered the next courtyard. Where was Yami? Had he broken his promise? Yugi looked at the people nearest him. Mana darted about like a hummingbird herding cats as she tried to keep her charges from straying. The New Yorkers surrounded him, their faces glowing with excitement. Had one of them searched his cabin?

"Yugi!" The deep voice cut easily through the ambient noise. "Sorry I'm late."

Yugi had never been as happy to see anyone as he was to see Yami pushing his way through the crowd. His white shirt seemed to glow in the moonlight.

"Am I glad to see you!" Yugi resisted the urge to wrap himself around Yami. Sheer relief made him lightheaded. "Where the _hell_ have you been?"

Yami caught Yugi's arm when he swayed. "What's going on? Did something happen?" He glared down at Yugi, who clutched at Yami's shirt with one hand while pushing him away with the other. "Stop that and let me help you, damn it!"

"Easy, my friend," came a steadying voice. Only then did Yugi realize that Lieutenant Bahur was there, too. "If something has happened, I am certain he will tell us."

Yugi nodded. "Something _did_ happen, and we really have to talk. _Now_."

"Please, it's time for us to move on..." Mana scooted between them, forcing Yami to release Yugi as she defused the moment. "Here are the guides who will lead us the rest of the way on our tour."

A tall man with oddly light-colored eyes and a turban around his head took Yugi's arm and urged him into motion. Startled, Yami looked around as if just realizing they weren't alone. "Okay. Let's just get this over with so we can get out of here."

Yami didn't seem to think there was anything strange about the guide, so Yugi allowed himself to be led deeper into the complex. Other groups and guides jostled around them, in a kind of living Brownian motion. Mai and her sister-in-law, led by their own guide, stepped between Yugi and Yami. As quickly as it was created, the space filled with more people, separating them even further.

Yugi bounced on his toes, trying to spot Yami's auburn hair as his guide shepherded him onward. "Wait!" Yugi protested. "We have to wait for my friend--"

"There is no time," the guide said. He had a light accent that gave a lilt to his words. He herded Yugi around a column, then through a gap in the remains of a massive stone wall.

As Mana had warned them, the footing was uneven. Yugi stumbled as his foot caught on a stone. Righting himself, he looked around and realized how far they'd come from the others. There was no sign of Yami or the crowd of tourists enjoying the show. The ruins of the complex were dark and confusing. Every opening looked like a gaping maw. None of them looked like the way he should go.

When he glanced back, his guide had vanished. Yugi dashed to the nearest opening and peered through it, but everything looked the same in the dark and he couldn't tell if he'd come this way or not. It was the same with the next direction he tried, and the next. His usually excellent sense of direction had deserted him. Apprehension ran an icy claw along his nerves. He was alone. The lights, music, and voices seemed distant now, moving farther away from him with each passing moment. No matter which way he turned, he couldn't find the way to get to them. His heart thudded painfully in his chest as he spun in a circle, eyes searching the shadows.

"_Yami!_" There was no answer, not even the lonely whisper of the wind.

He wasn't certain how long he'd been wandering when he became aware of hostile eyes upon him. He whipped around, but saw nothing. Only the thick, encroaching shadows. He shivered, hugging his arms across his torso.

"Yami! _Where are you?_"

* * *

"Dr. Viridian! We'd love it if you would join our little group." Mai's blonde mane obscured his view of Yugi as the woman stepped between them.

Yami had to force himself to focus on her. "What?"

"I said we'd love for you to join us." Mai planted both hands on her curvaceous hips and pouted at him. "Weren't you paying attention?"

"Not really." Yami cut around her and hurried toward the last place he'd seen Yugi. Mahaad was right on his heels. "Where _is_ he?"

"Is something the matter?" Despite her impractically high heels, Mai easily kept pace with the two men.

"Yugi's disappeared." Yami didn't spare her a second glance. "Come on, Mahaad. We've got to find him!"

Yami raced through the first courtyard, Mahaad beside him. They turned a corner and ran headlong into Mana. Furious with himself for letting this happen, Yami pinned her with a fierce look and demanded, "Have you seen Yugi?"

Mana's eyes were huge in her suddenly pale face. "Only with you."

Yami cursed. He took off in earnest, running on pure instinct. Something pulled at him and he obeyed. He shouted over his shoulder as he ran. "Check the sacred lake -- I'll try this way!"

A short way outside the temple walls, he heard a familiar voice shout his name. He froze. "_Yugi?_"

A faint response sent him racing through the open-air museum, dodging around concrete benches and broken blocks of stone from one of the reconstruction projects. He vaulted over a huge chunk of carved stone, and let the tug in his chest pull him onward.

Yugi stood beneath the entrance to the Temple of Ptah. Directly above his head, the billowing of a white _jalabiya_ robe caught Yami's eye.

"_Yugi!_"

Yami bellowed the name, sprinting desperately across the open space. At the last moment, he launched himself into a tackle, plowing into Yugi's side as an enormous chunk of sandstone crashed down toward them.


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: I usually don't do these, but I wanted to let my readers know why it has been so long between updates. My computer died back at the beginning of December and could not be repaired. The (used) replacement tower I was given does not have a working modem (or much else). Since I am broke and unable to buy parts or afford a new pc, that's where things sat for months. Until now. A very generous internet friend GAVE ME A LAPTOP! I am still overwhelmed by her generosity. So, thanks to the wonderful Tex-chan (and the equally cool Kitt, who is providing me with 'net access), I'm back -- and fic updates will now resume. To make up for the long wait, I plan to post several chapters a week for a couple of weeks. Thanks to everyone who is still reading. Your reviews inspire me to write more!

* * *

Chapter 11

The block of stone slammed into the ground, close enough that Yami thought he felt it graze his leg in passing. Dust from the impact obscured his vision and choked the breath in his lungs. Coughing, he pushed himself up on his forearms, only then realizing he was lying on top of Yugi.

"_Yugi!_" Yami's entire body was shaking with suppressed rage at the notion that someone had tried to kill Yugi, but his fear for the other's safety overrode his anger. He lifted himself off Yugi, eyes scanning his body for injuries. In the darkness, it was impossible to tell shadow from bruise -- or blood. Yami abandoned the hands-off approach, rolling to one side to leave his hands free to roam over Yugi's body, reassuring himself it was whole. "Are you all right, love?"

"...Yami?"

Dazed amethyst eyes opened, peering up at him with such open admiration that Yami thought his heart would burst. He did the only thing he could, then -- leaned down, and captured Yugi's mouth with his own. To Yami's eternal gratitude, Yugi responded, lips parting beneath his, body shifting so that Yugi's fit against his like the missing piece of a puzzle.

_Oh, God_... Yami took it all back. His past life had been exemplary -- _glorious!_ -- for him to deserve such a reward as this. He plundered the willing mouth offered to him, tongue coaxing Yugi's to duel. Yugi's mouth was warm and pliant, and his body arched against Yami's as if trying to meld them into a single being. Yami was lost, drowning in wondrous heat that ignited every nerve ending he owned and a few he'd never even suspected existed. It was the most wonderful thing he'd ever felt. He never wanted it to end.

"Dr. Viridian! Mr. Mutou!"

Reality struck a death-blow to Yami's euphoria, bringing him back to himself and reminding him that this was neither the time nor the place to carry things any farther. Breath coming in hard pants, Yami forced himself to pull away. He stood, offering a hand to help Yugi to his feet. Yugi stared at the enormous block that had nearly crushed them, then gave Yami a look that sent a jolt of electricity all the way to the soles of his feet. Wide-eyed, Yami forgot his new resolve and reached for Yugi again.

"Is Mr. Mutou injured?" called an oily voice, reminding Yami, once again, that they had an unwanted audience.

Yami jerked his gaze from Yugi's and found Pegasus, Mahaad, and Mana all hurrying toward them. Mahaad had taken Mana's hand to help her over the uneven terrain. Not far behind the lead trio, the rest of their tour group followed at their heels. When it became clear what had happened, everyone crowded around Yugi and started peppering him with questions.

Pegasus did his best to restore calm. "This was but an unfortunate accident, I'm sure. The stone must have been shaken loose from its proper moorings by the recent earthquake." He looked to Yami for support. "I'm certain the authorities will know what to do. Fortunately, no one was injured."

Yami's lips flattened into a thin white line. The Temple of Ptah was one of the monuments he and Isis had inspected along with the engineers, and the stone had _not_ been loose earlier in the day. He would stake his reputation on it. His hands clenched at his sides. Someone had tried to kill Yugi -- and had come frighteningly close to succeeding. If Yami could've gotten his hands on the would-be murderer in that moment, he would've crushed them gladly.

"I'm all right," Yugi was saying, trying to reassure the concerned group clustered around him. "I'm just dusty and a little shaken up. I'm really okay -- thanks to Yami."

Pegasus shook his head, white hair gleaming in the faint light. "We must report this to the engineers at once. Because of the earthquake, the temple is now unsafe."

"You do that," Yami said, shouldering aside a pair of the ladies clucking worriedly over Yugi, and sliding an arm around his shoulders. If Pegasus wanted to downplay what had happened, let him. Yami had more important things on his mind. "I'm taking Yugi back to the _River Horse_. He needs to lie down."

When Yami tugged him away from the group, Yugi didn't resist. In fact, he leaned into Yami's side -- not much, but enough to send a fresh shock through Yami. Apparently, the incident had shaken Yugi more than he wanted the others to know. Yami's arm tightened around him. "Come on. Let's get you back to the boat."

Yami led him back through the temple, toward the Avenue of Sphinxes. When they reached the second pylon, Yugi began to drag his feet. At Yami's questioning look, he said, "I don't really want to go back to the _River Horse_..." He sighed tiredly. "We do need to talk, though."

A discreet cough from behind them forestalled Yami's response. Glancing back, he spotted Mahaad, still holding Mana's hand, trailing Pegasus, Ryou, and Téa as they bee-lined in on Yugi again.

"I have requested a local guide escort the tour group for the remainder of the show," Pegasus said. "Of course, my first concern must be for Mr. Mutou's well-being."

"Good!" Téa planted her hands on her hips and gave them all a Look. "I'm a dancer and I've taken a few hard falls in my time. If you ask me, what Yugi needs is a couple of aspirins, a steaming hot bath, and a bed -- in that order. If you've got any questions for him, they can wait until tomorrow."

"Thanks, Téa," Yugi said quietly. "That's exactly what I'll do -- after Yami and I stop by Peabody House first."

Yami quirked an eyebrow. What did Yugi have in mind? Every instinct urged him to take Yugi somewhere safe, where Yami could protect him, but intellect told him to let Yugi take the lead.

"_Men_." Téa threw up her hands. "You'll do what you want, of course. Men never listen to the sensible advice of women." She turned and stalked off, still muttering.

"She may be right, you know," Ryou said, looking Yugi over with concern in his eyes. "That was quite a shock you've just had. You should have some hot tea with those aspirin tablets and go directly to bed."

"I will... As soon as I can."

Shaking his head, Ryou backed off, following in Téa's wake. Mana took the opportunity to dart forward. "I'm so sorry!" she wailed, wringing her hands. "I should've kept a better watch on you. It's all my fault!"

"It wasn't you fault, Mana." Yugi patted her drooping shoulder. "I don't blame you at all."

"Really?" Mana looked up at him, tears painting her cheeks, her eyes big and hopeful. "You forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive."

Still sniffling, Mana allowed Mahaad to steer her away from Yugi. Yami could feel the tension in Yugi's body. He gave the shoulders beneath his arm a gentle squeeze, and Yugi sent him a grateful look.

"We'll take Mahaad's car back to the Institute," Yami decided. He glanced at his friend. "Mahaad, give me your keys."

"I will drive you," Mahaad volunteered.

"No!" Yugi tensed. "I mean, that's okay... We'll be fine on our own."

Yami's grip tightened. Yugi's body was practically vibrating with rigidly controlled tension. What, exactly, was he afraid of? Yami had to find out. He sent Mahaad a silent plea for understanding.

Mahaad handed over the car keys without further argument. "May I stop by Peabody House later to check on you?"

"That would okay, I guess." Yugi was subdued, leaning his body into Yami's side.

Yami's throat ached with the confusion of emotion churning inside him. He held Yugi close, and vowed that, whatever Yugi needed from him, he would get.

* * *

Moments later, they were at Peabody House. Yami was being incredibly considerate -- and he had apparently saved Yugi's life -- but Yugi couldn't let that distract him from the business at hand. He said, "I want my grandpa's papers. Are they still in your office?"

When Yami nodded, Yugi turned and limped wearily in that direction. Without protest, Yami followed. Of course, Yugi had no clue how to even begin looking for the papers in the dense strata that covered Yami's desk, so he simply stood in the doorway of the office, looking lost. Yami pushed him gently to sit on the nearest chair, then retrieved Sugoroku's notes and laid them on Yugi's lap like an offering. Yugi gave him an unsteady smile. "I guess you really do know where everything is..."

"Wait right there," Yami said, overlooking the weak joke. "I'll get us both something to drink. After what just happened, I need some liquid fortification."

Yugi sat staring blankly at the papers clutched in his hands. The writing danced and writhed before his eyes, a serpentine blur that mocked his inability to answer the riddle of his grandpa's disappearance. Reaction from his close call sent nausea twisting in the pit of his stomach, and left him limp and shaking. His eyes burned, and he ached all over. Even his _hair_ ached. He slumped in his chair, hugging the pages to his chest and wishing he could get Yami to trust him and stop dancing around the truth.

As if summoned by the thought, Yami stalked back in, a bottle of Egyptian wine and two plastic tumblers in his hands. He poured the wine, and thrust one of the glasses at Yugi. "Drink."

Yugi wasn't much of a drinker, but he did as commanded, tossing back the dark red liquid. He sputtered when it burned his throat and made his eyes water. He blinked accusingly at Yami, who frowned at him and shrugged. "You get used to it."

Yugi hopped from his chair and deposited his glass on the desk. He started to pace, stopped, and decided to skip right to the point. "I saw you take the necklace from the museum."

Silence stretched between them. Yugi studied Yami's face closely, but his gaze -- rich and warm and brown -- didn't falter, and his handsome features revealed nothing. "If that's so, why didn't you turn me in to the authorities?"

"Because I thought it might have something to do with Grandpa. I started following you around because I thought you'd lead me to him. Now..." Yugi shoved his fingers through his sweat-matted bangs, making their disarray worse. The blond strands stuck out at odder angles than usual, but he didn't care. "_Now_, I just hope you'll help me find him."

He could tell the revelation stunned Yami, though he still looked reluctant to make any confessions of his own. "Please, Yami. I need to know."

"Why are you telling me this?" Yami's voice was gruff as he added, "After all, I'm just a thief."

Those deep brown eyes didn't conceal as much as Yami thought they did. Yugi could tell he was stalling. He reached out and brushed the back of Yami's hand with his fingertips. "I'm not stupid, Yami. I know you're not a thief."

Watching Yami's eyes widen, Yugi said, "Someone searched my cabin this afternoon. They went through my stuff and found the letters my grandpa wrote to me. Tonight, someone tried to squash me like a bug under a rock. I need to know what's really going on. _Please_... " He reached up and laid the backs of his fingers against Yami's cheek. " Tell me what's going on. Tell me the truth."

Yami's hands were suddenly on his shoulders, pulling him into an embrace. Yugi lifted his face, his lips parting--

The sound of the front door banging shut and brisk footsteps echoing on the marble floor broke the moment. Yami sighed, dropped a quick kiss on the tip of Yugi's nose, and righted him. He offered Yugi a tiny smile. "It's just Mahaad, I'm sure." Confusion pulled the corners of his mouth down. "If you were going to confront me about my theft of the necklace, why didn't you want him to come with us?"

"He's your friend." Yugi looked down at his feet. "I didn't want him to have to choose between friendship and moral obligation. If he knew about the necklace, he might feel he had to arrest you. I didn't... I _don't_ want that."

The smile Yami gave him lit the room. Yugi felt his pulse do a quick-time step, and then Yami was kissing him again, and everything else fell away. The next thing he knew, Yami had deposited him back onto the cushioned chair, and was kneeling in front of him.

"Don't worry." Yami's voice was like a soothing balm. He smoothed Yugi's bangs out of his face. "Everything's going to be okay. I'll tell you what I know, and we'll--"

"Am I interrupting something?" Mahaad stood in the doorway, a faint, knowing smile tilting the corners of his mouth.

"Mahaad, good. You'd better sit down," Yami said. "We've got a lot of planning to do."

"It is about time!" Mahaad folded his arms over his chest and gave Yami a pointed look. "I have been wondering when you would finally deign to confide in me." He glanced at Yugi, then back to Yami. "Dr. Mutou's continued absence suggests he is unable to return. If someone is holding him against his will, why are they doing so? What do they want from him? Why are the authorities not more involved? I believe you can tell us these things, my friend."

"_Damn_." Yami drew in a deep breath, then blew it back out. He braced his hands on his hips and nodded. "I hate to get either of you any more mixed up in this mess than you already are, but... I can't think of any other way to keep Yugi safe until we figure this out."

"Grandpa's disappearance has something to do with his search for the Millennium Items, doesn't it?" Yugi rolled his eyes at the twin surprised looks his insight garnered him. "I'm _not_ stupid."

"I never thought you were." Yami shook his head. "I was just hoping you wouldn't figure it out -- that you wouldn't have to."

Mahaad leaned forward, his blue eyes intense. "My men have confirmed that several of the small villages between Luxor and Aswan have become involved in the revival of the cult of which we spoke earlier."

_Cult? _Yugi couldn't stop the shiver that wracked him. "What are you talking about? What kind of c-cult? My grandpa wouldn't get mixed up with a-- He wouldn't!" His pleading gaze focused on Yami. "...Would he?"

"Not voluntarily." Yami knelt beside Yugi and took one of Yugi's hands in both of his. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. His gaze was earnest as it sought Yugi's and held it. "You were right about the necklace. I took it because the cult said they wanted it in exchange for Sugoroku's freedom."

Yugi shook his head, the words refusing to process. His grandpa had been kidnapped? By some crazy cult that was holding him hostage in exchange for the Millennium Items? None of it made sense. Yami leaned closer, the heat from his body making Yugi aware of the icy chill permeating his own. At that moment, Yami's touch was the only warmth in Yugi's world.

"From Sugoroku's notes, we now know that objects matching the description of the Millennium Items do exist. The cult wants all seven of the Items -- and they believed Sugoroku could lead them to the Puzzle." Yami rose and began to pace.

Mahaad spoke up. "The missing antiquities from the European collections -- there was a golden balance that might be the Millennium Scales, and another object that could be the Millennium Ring."

"And I have the Millennium Necklace." Yami raked his hand through his already messy hair. "That's three, four if Sugoroku really did find the Puzzle."

"That leaves the Rod, Eye, and Key of Life," Mahaad said. At Yami's upraised brow, he added, "I have been researching."

"Why do they want the Items so badly?" Yugi looked at the other two men. Kidnapping and attempted murder were a little extreme for a simple case of Egyptomania, so Yugi knew it had to be something more. Something worth killing for. "What do they expect to get out of all of this?"

"According to legend, the Millennium Items belonged to the Nameless Pharaoh. It is said that whoever holds all seven Items has the power to rule the world."

Yeah, _that_ was sane. And these nutjobs had his grandpa? Yugi hugged Sugoroku's papers to his stomach. What would they do to him if they didn't get what they wanted? "What can we do? Why didn't you notify the authorities as soon as you knew what had happened?"

"I did. I called Interpol as soon as the cult made contact. They told me to cooperate with the cult, to do whatever they asked."

"_That's_ why you're on the cruise," Yugi said, as another of the puzzle pieces slotted into place. "Isn't it?"

"They told me to keep the necklace with me at all times, so I'd be ready to make the exchange when the time came. They would tell me when and where." Yami shook his head. "Only now I think they've got something else in mind. Remember the guy I chased into your room back at the hotel our first night in Luxor?"

How could Yugi forget? "The mysterious not-masked man."

"I'm positive he was one of the cultists, a messenger."

"And what message did this mystery man deliver?" Mahaad demanded, his expression thunderous. It was clear he didn't like being kept out of the loop. Yugi had a feeling Yami would pay for that omission later.

"A note telling me to go to Dendera. But if my contact was there, I never saw them. I think Yugi may've scared them off. When I got back to the _River Horse_, there was another message, a sheet of papyrus left on my bed. The new meeting place is apparently the Temple of Horus at Edfu."

"You do know what this means?" Mahaad's expression had darkened even further at the news.

"I know. In addition to the probable Interpol agent on the boat with us, there is at least one cult member."

Mahaad nodded decisively. "There is only one thing to do. I will accompany you when you return to the _River Horse,_ and sail with you to Edfu."

"And I'll be glad for the back-up," Yami said, "but Yugi's not getting back on that boat. Someone's already searched his cabin, so there's no doubt they know who he is. Besides, that was no accident at the Temple of Ptah. It was a warning. I won't let him risk his life by--"

"I'm going with you." Yugi was amazed at how calm he sounded. "Maybe we can use my grandpa's notes to find him. I'm good at puzzles, I'll figure it out." He lifted his head and met Yami's concerned gaze. "You don't know who you can trust on the _River Horse_, so it only makes sense to have two of us to watch your back."

For a long moment, he and Yami simply stared at one another. Yami seemed to be trying to read his very soul through the window of his eyes. Yugi held his breath. One way or another, he was going, but Yami's acceptance would mean a lot. Finally, Yami gave a mirthless chuckle, little more than an explosive exhalation of breath.

"I'd tell you to go back to Cairo and wait for me, but I know you won't." Yami's expression softened. "Besides, there's no one I'd trust more to watch my back than you two."

"It is good you remember who your friends are." Mahaad looked as pleased as Yugi felt, pride blossoming in Yugi's chest at the thought that Yami knew he could count on him as well as Mahaad. "So. We are agreed, yes?"

Yami nodded. "According to Sugoroku's notes, he picked up a clue at Edfu to the Millennium Puzzle's hiding place. That's where the cult must've taken him. They probably had him under surveillance for months, waiting for him to lead them to the right place." He gave Yugi's shoulder a squeeze. "If you're ready, we'll head back to the boat. I believe Pegasus intends to set sail tonight for Edfu."

"We're going to find my grandpa," Yugi said, pouring every ounce of his optimism and conviction into the statement as if he could make it true by sheer force of will alone. "With all of us working together, I just know we will."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

When the three of them trooped aboard the _River Horse _a few hours before dawn, the Nile cruiser was quiet, most of her occupants already in bed. A sleepy-eyed sentry challenged them on the gangway, checking their boarding passes before letting them pass. The sentry, who appeared to be eighteen at the most, saluted when Mahaad presented his police badge. He was still standing at attention when Yugi lost sight of him as they entered the interior of the cruiser.

Mahaad quietly went his own way, and Yami escorted Yugi back to his cabin. "I just want to make sure no one's left you any surprises," Yami explained. "Then you should go to sleep. You'll need all the rest you can get for whatever lies ahead of us tomorrow."

That sounded sensible to Yugi, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. Even though he was feeling the effects of the adrenaline crash rocking his system, he was too wound up with worry and fear and pent up anger to relax. Feeling a bit like an observer inside his own head, he watched Yami check under the bed and in the tiny bathroom. While Yami was peeping into the closet, Yugi toed off his shoes and sank onto the edge of the mattress. His heart hammered in his chest as he realized what he wanted to do.

"It doesn't look like anyone's been snooping around in here again." Yami came to sit beside him, one hand reaching out to gently brush Yugi's limp bangs back from his face. "I'll go now so that you can get some rest."

"Stay with me." Yugi blurted out the words before they had even registered in his brain, but he didn't take them back. "I don't... I don't want to be alone."

"_Yugi_..." Yami's voice was like the caress of velvet against Yugi's skin, and he shivered with sudden need when Yami leaned down to brush his cheek against Yugi's. His warm breath teased across Yugi's ear, tantalizing nerves Yugi had never guessed could be so sensitive. "I want to. But if I stay, I won't be able to keep my hands off you."

"Promise?" Yugi whispered, turning so his mouth caught Yami's. Yami gave a little moan, lips parting beneath Yugi's tongue, and Yugi took quick advantage of it. His tongue darted inside, and this time _he_ dominated the kiss, exploring Yami's mouth even as his hands roamed up the front of Yami's shirt and loosened the first button at his throat.

Fire danced along Yugi's skin as Yami slid his hands up Yugi's back, under his t-shirt. He angled his body again so that he could bear Yami back onto the bed. Yami groaned as Yugi's arousal pressed against him, sliding along his thigh and up to his hip as Yugi moved on top of him. Panting, Yugi held himself up on his forearms long enough to look down at the handsome face below him. Beneath the thick veil of his lowered lashes, Yami's brown eyes had darkened almost to black, and his mouth was soft with desire.

"_Stay_," Yugi said, and lowered his head to demand another kiss.

Yami obeyed.

* * *

Later, Yugi curled drowsily against Yami, his head pillowed on Yami's bare chest so he could listen to the comforting rhythm of the other's heartbeat. One of Yami's hands stroked a soothing rhythm along the line of Yugi's spine. Yugi was almost in dreamland when the sleepy murmur, so soft it might have been nothing but his imagination, reached his ears.

"...I love you, Yugi."

Every nerve in Yugi's body stood at attention as his lethargy vanished in an instant. Eyes wide, he held still, waiting to see if Yami would say anything else, but the only sound was Yami's slow, even breathing.

Before Yugi could decide whether to rejoice or panic, the bed shifted beneath him as if the _River Horse_ had encountered rough water. His tube of emergency hair gel toppled off the nightstand with a clatter as it struck the floor. He jerked onto his back, panting in the darkness, and gasped, "The earth moved!"

"_Mm-hm_," came the mumbled, but still surprisingly smug, reply. "But this time it w's jus' an aftershock." A yawn, then, "We'll b' gettin' 'em for w'ks..."

And then there were only the quiet sounds of contented slumber.

A tiny grin flashed across Yugi's lips. He shook his head fondly as he slipped out of bed and went to stand by the window. He still didn't know what to make of Yami. He'd never met anyone so... so... _Yami-like_. No other description did the man justice.

Yugi rested his forehead against the cool glass of the window and stared with unseeing eyes at the night shrouded river beyond. He wasn't sure about what he'd done. He'd never felt for anyone what he felt for Yami, but... Maybe it was too soon, too fast. Making love with him had felt wonderful, but right now he had to focus on more important things than physical pleasure. Things like getting his grandpa back.

A sudden stab of terror knifed through him, doubling him over. _Grandpa!_ Yugi's mind shouted the name into the icy darkness that threatened to engulf his mind. _I'll find you, Grandpa. I promise!_

He felt the brush of Sugoroku's consciousness, then, just for a second. The terror belonged to Sugoroku, but so did the sense of determination that followed. Determination to be strong, to hold on. Yugi clasped that determination to himself, made it his own. He wrapped his arms around his chest, and his grandpa's strength around his heart.

_I believe in you, Grandpa. We can do this. Just don't give up_...

* * *

Yami rolled over in the bed, arms reaching instinctively for Yugi. When he found only the cold bedsheet, he bolted upright, panicked eyes searching the gloom. He closed his eyes in sheer relief when he saw Yugi by the window, wrapped in a thin cotton robe, his head leaning against the glass. Swallowing his heart, which had leaped up to lodge in his throat, Yami rose and went to him.

"Yugi? Love, what's wrong?"

"Don't call me that." Amethyst eyes made luminous in the moonlight peered up at him through the disarray of Yugi's golden bangs. "I think I made a terrible mistake..."

Fear pooled in Yami's gut. He shook his head, trying to ward off the rejection he sensed coming. In a weak voice forced through the sudden constriction of his throat, he croaked, "It wasn't a mistake--"

"Grandpa's in danger and we're the only ones who can save him. I have to concentrate on that, not..." Yugi made a helpless, inarticulate gesture. "There's nothing more important!"

Sure he wouldn't like the answers to any questions he might ask now, Yami reached out tentative arms and tugged Yugi into his embrace. Yugi resisted for a moment, then sagged against Yami, allowing his head to come to rest against Yami's chest. Not knowing what else to do, Yami pulled Yugi down with him into the armchair by the window and simply held Yugi as he drifted, finally, into an exhausted sleep.

His heart aching, Yami kept watch through the remainder of the night. Knowing he might never get another chance, he held Yugi close, treasuring the feel of him in his arms, the soft caress of Yugi's breath against his skin. When dreams troubled Yugi, Yami soothed him with gentle touches and caring words pressed along with butterfly kisses to his forehead and temple until Yugi quieted.

And when the dawn broke over Edfu, Yami still held him -- and worried about the future.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Yugi woke up alone in his bed. He lay for a moment without opening his eyes, not sure whether to feel relieved or disappointed by Yami's absence. Last night had been... wonderful, confusing, a little frightening. Yugi had never felt more alive than he had in Yami's arms. It hadn't all been about pleasure, either. When Yugi had needed simple comfort, Yami had given it to him without hesitation -- understanding, undemanding, as close to perfect as anything could have been.

With a sigh, Yugi rolled out of bed. After he'd dressed, he wandered to the window and peered at the scenery. They had reached Edfu while he slept. Along the riverbank, mudbrick houses -- some white-washed, some an earthy brown -- rose against a clear blue sky along with taller apartment blocks and the skinny minaret of a mosque. In the distance behind them, towered one of the huge, sandstone pylons of an ancient temple. Down on the shore, a cluster of women did their laundry the old-fashioned way: scrubbing and pounding the clothes on the rocks at the water's edge. Vendors lined the riverbank, ready to hawk their wares to disembarking tourists. He could see Weevil and Rex haggling with a merchant, and wondered if Yami, too, had already gone ashore.

He started toward the door, pausing when he heard voices raised in argument on the other side. It seemed Mahaad and Ryou had decided to start the day with a disagreement about Yugi's welfare.

"I assure you, sir, I am here merely to--"

Yugi yanked open the door, his sudden appearance stalling Mahaad mid-sentence. Mahaad turned his head and gave Yugi a polite nod. "Good morning, Yugi. Ryou has been inquiring after you."

"I wanted to reassure myself that you were all right." Ryou smiled. "You frightened us all terribly, you know. I'm very glad you weren't seriously injured. I would have offered to stay with you last night in case you needed assistance, but Bakura assured me you had sufficient company." A faint pink stained his cheeks. "All's well that ends well, I suppose... I'll save you a seat on the minibus for the trip to Edfu. We leave in ten minutes."

"I will make certain he is there on time."

Ryou cut a glance at him, his eyes serious for a moment. Then he smiled and was his usual cheerful self again. "Well, with you as his protector, I shan't worry. See you there, Yugi."

Mahaad had the grace to appear a bit chagrined.

"So, you're my bodyguard now?" Yugi fought the urge to not-pout, instead forcing a cheery note into his voice. "Any idea where Yami's gotten to?"

To Yugi's surprise -- and faint embarrassment -- Mahaad assayed a graceful bow. "As you have so astutely surmised, I am indeed guarding you until we join Yami at Edfu. He went ahead of us to forestall any interference from the tour group."

"Okay." Yugi squared his shoulders. "Let's go. I wouldn't want to hold up the tour schedule."

Mana was waiting for them at the foot of the gangplank. Everyone else had boarded the bus, and the guide was wringing her hands as she paced, her pretty face reflecting her worry. When they appeared, she smiled to rival the sun and bounced over to greet Yugi.

"I was just coming back to check on you, but Ryou said you'd be right along -- and here you are!" She beamed at him, then gave him a worried once-over. "You're really all right?"

"I'm fine. You don't have to worry so much about me, Mana--"

"I won't now. You look well, and I'm sure all there won't be any more incidents like the one at Karnak."

Yugi wished he could be as certain. "I'll try to stay out of trouble."

"And I am here to keep Mr. Mutou safe." Mahaad inclined his head in a polite gesture, then ushered Yugi onto the bus, Mana trailing behind them like the tail of an erratic kite.

The other members of the tour called out warm greetings as Yugi found his place beside Ryou, as promised. In the seat behind them, a smug Bakura sat next to Mai, whose huge designer sunglasses hid most of her face. Ryou's concern for Yugi's well-being had apparently, in some obscure way, been a boon to Bakura's love-life. Or had it? With a start, he remembered that any one of the people around him could be a cult member. Who, besides Mahaad, could he trust?

"I do hope Dr. Viridian will be joining us for the temple tour. He makes it all so fascinating, doesn't he?"

Ryou's casual remark sparked a memory of the night before. Yugi got a flash of Yami beneath him, above him. He could taste Yami's kiss, feel the warmth of those skilled hands on his skin. He shivered, stunned by the intensity of his emotions.

"I'm..." Yugi had to stop and clear his throat before trying again. "I'm sure he'll be waiting for... us." He turned his burning face to the window and pretended to watch the dusty scenery passing by.

He had to get his mind back on track. He'd made one mistake; he couldn't risk another. At this point, all he could do was hope he and Yami could find Sugoroku. He'd been at Edfu before. He might even be here now, waiting for the exchange. Yugi focused on that hopeful thought as the bus pulled into the parking lot below the temple.

Inside the complex, Yami waited for them in a large courtyard between pylons, beside a black basalt statue of a falcon that guarded the entrance to a hypostyle hall.

"Welcome to the Temple of Horus of Edfu." Yami swept his arm in a dramatic gesture that took in the large statue. "This is Horus, in his guise as a falcon. He wears a form of the Double Crown, signifying his kingship of all of Egypt. The temple you see around you is a Ptolemaic construction built over the ruins of a New Kingdom temple. It was constructed over a period of 180 years, beginning with the reign of Ptolemy III and ending during that of Ptolemy XII. While it incorporates Greek elements, it is firmly based in the Egyptian style and is one of the best-preserved major temples in Egypt today."

"Thank you, Dr. Viridian." Mana smiled sunnily at him, then gathered the group around her like a hen with her chicks. "We have some time to explore this great monument. First, Mr. Crawford and I will take you through the inner hypostyle hall. Then, we will view the _naos_, or sanctuary, where the cult statue of the god Horus resided."

Yugi loitered in the courtyard, pretending to be fascinated by the statue. Although impressive, the statue didn't hold his attention for long. His gaze darted about, trying to spot anyone suspicious. Rex and Weevil stopped to take a few pictures beside the statue, although Weevil complained it wasn't as interesting as the giant scarab at Karnak. As the group wandered off to disappear into the shadows of the massive columns beyond the pylon, Mahaad slipped into step with Mana. Then, it was only Yugi and the two guys from California... and Yami.

Yugi listened as the Californians waylaid Yami, then harangued him into taking their photograph in front of the falcon statue. It seemed someone was always coming between Yugi and Yami. He waited a bit longer, then wandered over to the gateway, still looking for some sign of the cultists -- or his grandpa.

When Yami caught up with him a few minutes later, he took Yugi's hand and guided him around the pylon and outside the outer wall. Yugi jogged along beside him, almost running to keep up with Yami's longer strides. "Have they made contact?"

"No." Yami looked frustrated. "I've wandered all over this place, but I haven't seen anyone other than the guards." He glanced down at Yugi, and changed the subject. "You look tired."

"I'm fine." It was becoming a mantra. "Where are we going?"

"Just over here." Yami ushered him toward the structure in question. It was a birth house, similar to the ones at Dendera. "I think I found something."

The "something" was an obscure relief, carved near the base of the wall near the inside of the doorway. Yugi would never have noticed it if Yami hadn't pointed it out with the beam of the flashlight he took from his pocket. Surrounded by hieroglyphs was the carving of an upside-down pyramid shape with an _udjat_ at its center. Yugi's eyes widened.

"On Grandpa's notes..." His voice was hushed as he crouched to get a closer look. "The Millennium Puzzle?"

"I think so."

"What does it say?"

"It's not very clear." Yami leaned over his shoulder, pointing at the ancient writings. "Some of the hieroglyphs are worn or missing, but I think it says something about the Temple of Isis at Philae."

"That's on the tour, right?"

"Yeah. We're heading there tomorrow." Yami straightened, and moved back toward the light from the entryway. "Of course, Isis' temple isn't where it was in ancient times. When the Aswan High Dam was built in the Sixties, a lot of archaeological sites were lost beneath the newly formed Lake Nasser. The Philae temple complex was one of those saved by UNESCO, which moved it to the nearby island of Agilkai."

"But, maybe whatever was there is still inside the temple. If it's another inscription or--"

"We'll just have to hope. Sugoroku was definitely headed upriver, and so will we." Yami turned as Yugi came up beside him. "As long as we work together, and don't lose faith, we'll find him. I know it." Then his fierce expression softened. "You haven't made a mistake, love."

"Yami--"

"_No_." Yami pressed a finger to Yugi's lips. "Don't. After we find Sugoroku... _Then_ we'll talk."

"_Yoo-hoo_... Dr. Viridian?" Mai's blonde head appeared around the edge of the doorway. "There you are! Everyone's looking for you. We'd all love to hear your thoughts on some of the scenes on the temple walls."

Together, the three of them walked back to the rest of the group. Mai stuck next to Yami, flirting outrageously. He answered her questions politely, shooting the occasional amused glance at Yugi, who couldn't quite suppress a surge of jealousy even though he could tell Yami wasn't interested in returning Mai's attentions. Yugi hung back as they entered the hypostyle hall, watching as Yami's confident stride carried him ahead. Sure enough, everyone was gathered near one of the walls, peering up at the enormous reliefs carved into the stone. Mana pointed out things here and there, but she was clearly waiting for the real expert to arrive. Mai's "I found him!" brought the others crowding in -- Siegfried and Vivian flanking Mai, followed by Ryou and Bakura. Something curdled in the pit of Yugi's stomach. Behind at least one of those eager smiles, an enemy lurked.

Spotting Mahaad lingering near the entrance, Yugi moved toward him. He didn't notice Weevil until the guy spoke up beside him.

"Fascinating place, isn't it? And the shopping's not bad, either." Weevil ran a finger over the gold chain dangling around his neck. From it depended several large gold flies that, Weevil told him (with an almost scary enthusiasm), were replicas of the Flies of Valor handed out by the pharaohs as rewards for bravery in battle. "Everything's dirt-cheap compared to back home. And the Egyptians had the good sense to use insect motifs fairly often."

Yugi blinked at him. "That's... nice."

"Have you done much souvenir shopping? I could point you to some nice scarab jewelry. Or some birds... if you like that sort of thing." Weevil's grimace made his stance on the subject clear.

"I, uh, really haven't had time to shop. Thanks, anyway."

Weevil shoved his heavy frames back up on his nose. For the first time, Yugi noticed that the bridge piece was fashioned as a beetle. "When we get to Aswan tomorrow, we'll have all morning to shop. It'll be great. If you stick with me, I'll point out some good deals for you."

"Um... Okay." Looking around for rescue, Yugi spotted Yami leading the group past the doorway. The shaft of sunlight streaming through the opening outlined him in gold and made his hair, usually so dark it was almost black, flame as red as the dyed tips on Yugi's spikes. Yami glanced back at him and smiled. Yugi suddenly found it hard to breathe.

He shook himself. He had to concentrate on rescuing his grandpa, not drool over the handsome Egyptologist who had agreed to help him search.

For the rest of the tour, the group surrounded Yami liked moons orbiting a planet. There was no way for anyone to make private contact with him. Mai practically hung off Yami's arm. Whenever Yugi got too close, she glared coldly at him until he backed off. Mahaad found every possible reason to linger near Mana, who looked flustered but pleased by his attentions. Discouraged, Yugi trudged along at the back of the group, only half-listening to Yami explain the functions of the rooms and structures they passed.

It was a very long, hot day.

--

Yami stood at the window in his cabin aboard the _River Horse_ and watched the last, spectcular rays of the sunset slip away. He had always been fascinated by the Egyptian night. As Ré departed the world of the living for the underworld, long shadows swallowed the land. The darkness hid everything: the gleaming waters of the great river, the fragile stretch of green along its banks, and the encroaching chaos of the desert. In the fall of twilight, Egypt became a realm of shadows.

And in that vast darkness, Yugi's grandfather could be anywhere. Yami knew he had to find Sugoroku, and fast. He could feel time slipping away like sand trickling through his fingers. The cult had chosen not to approach him today, but he knew they wanted the necklace. They would have to come to him eventually. Hopefully, it would not be too late for Sugoroku.

Guilt weighed him down. Would Sugoroku have come to Yami for help if he hadn't been so adamant that the Millennium Items were nothing but a nonsensical myth? If only... But he didn't have time to second-guess himself. He had to find Mahaad and make practical plans for tomorrow.

A tap at the door brought him up short, a flutter of anticipation stirring his heart to beat faster. Yugi?

But when he flung open the door, Isis Ishtar stood there. Her gaze swept past his shoulder, taking in the empty room with a faint smile. "Forgive me for barging in like this, Dr. Viridian, but after I spied the ever-diligent Lieutenant Bahur guarding Mr. Mutou's door, I hoped to find you alone. May I come in? I wish to speak with you in private."

"All right." He stepped back to let her enter, and waved at the pair of chairs in front of the windows. "Have a seat."

"No, thank you. Dinner will be served shortly and I don't wish to draw unnecessary attention to myself." She closed the door behind her. "I have been informed yet again that Interpol will soon be in contact with me. Therefore, there is a matter I wish to clarify before I speak with them."

Yami nodded noncommittally, his expression giving away nothing.

"Dr. Viridian... Does Dr. Mutou's disappearance have any bearing on Interpol's investigation? Surely, you are aware of the many rumors surrounding Dr. Mutou and the missing papyri of the _Book of the Nameless Pharaoh_. The timing could not be closer -- nor more incriminating."

Although he had harbored similar suspicions, hearing the accusation from Isis made him angry on Yugi's behalf. "Sugoroku didn't steal the blasted papyri. He's a scholar, and a damn good one."

A startled blink, then Isis dipped her head in a shallow bow. "My apologies. I meant no offense." She lifted her hands in an elegant shrug. "You understand that I had to ask, yes? When I speak to Interpol, I must be certain of my answers."

Reluctantly, he nodded. She smiled. "I must assess the earthquake damage at the Philae temple complex tomorrow. I would like for you to accompany me, as you did at Karnak. Your presence seems to have a greater effect on the engineers than that of a 'mere woman.'" She turned back to the door, hesitating only to add, "As for the rest, we can only be patient. Interpol moves in mysterious ways -- or so I am told."

Patience had never been one of his virtues, as Mahaad frequently reminded him. His lack of it ate at him all through dinner, like a persistent itch he couldn't scratch. It was all he could do to politely answer the numerous questions about ancient Egyptian life with which the ladies from New York, who surrounded him at the table, plied him. Then Arthur, seated beside his precocious granddaughter, began asking about Yami's specific research. At any other time, he might have been flattered by all the attention. Now, he couldn't help questioning their motives.

He couldn't understand why the cult hadn't made contact by now. First the missed chance at Dendera, now an appointment ignored at Edfu. Did they suspect a trap or were they changing the bargain? Perhaps they thought to take the necklace without freeing Sugoroku. With that in mind, Yami had hidden the piece of jewelry so that no one could find it. He glanced at each face around the table. They all looked like innocent tourists. Yet, someone among them was not what they seemed. Interpol or cultist, neither had shown their true faces.

He was beginning to feel like a tasty morsel trapped between two lions licking their chops in anticipation of a treat. Too bad he wasn't backed into his corner alone. He could handle threats to his own safety. But Yugi was there with him, and threats to Yugi were unacceptable on any level.

Yugi's place was at the opposite end of the long dining table, so conversation between them was impossible. Yami couldn't even see more than the occasional glimpse of a bright gold bang or red-tipped spike of black hair. The forced separation didn't do anything to improve his disposition. Neither did after-dinner drinks in the salon, where Ryou kept Yugi busy chatting in a corner while Vivian and Mai cornered Yami for more questions about the Nameless Pharaoh.

The unending stream of inquiries made him suspicious, and that was making him antsy. It went beyond simple curiosity and into the region of scary obsession, especially when everyone in the group -- right down to teenaged Rebecca -- seemed so knowledgeable about such an obscure subject. They were _too_ knowledgeable. And damned nosy.

When Pegasus and Isis invited him to share coffee with them at their small table near the bar, he leaped at the chance to escape the inquisition. He would've rather gone to Yugi, but he couldn't think of a believable excuse -- and "Sorry, I'm an Evil Noodle Overlord, and I have to go plot the Ravioli Revolution with my trusted lieutenant," probably wouldn't cut it. He chalked up it up to general paranoia created by all the uncertainty he was dealing with, but he couldn't help suspecting the entire group of conspiring to keep him away from Yugi.

Glancing around the room, he saw that Mahaad was haunting Mana's footsteps, lounging oh-so-casually against the wall near the table where she was speaking with Bakura, Rex, and Weevil. Yami rolled his eyes, then made faces at Mahaad until his friend hid a laugh and finally strolled over to join the group at the other table. Even across the room, Yami could see the delighted flush on Mana's cheeks when Mahaad sat down beside her. Good deed for the day accomplished, Yami smiled to himself.

After about a million years, Yugi bid Ryou goodnight, and rose to make his way across the salon. Watching him, Yami automatically got to his feet. Their eyes met and an unspoken message passed between them. By silent accord, they met at the top of the stairs at the back of the salon and made their way down to Yugi's cabin. At the door, Yugi hesitated with the key in his hand. His shoulders braced, then he turned to Yami with a look of resolve in his eyes.

"_Shh_." Yami stopped him with a fingertip to his lips, a half-smile curving his own. "I'll be right here, outside your door, if you need me."

Something in Yugi's expression melted before Yami's eyes. Yugi pulled in a deep breath, then tilted his head to look up at him through his bangs. He was smiling softly. "That offer means a lot to me, Yami, but... You need your rest. Mahaad, too. I'll be all right."

Yami bit back the instinctive protest. He knew Yugi _could_ take care of himself. He just didn't want him to _have_ to. "At least take the spare key to my suite. That way, you can get to me if you happen to need me." He held out the key and, when Yugi hesitated, added, "Please. It would make _me_ feel better."

"Well..." Yugi took the key and toyed with it uncertainly. "If it's a matter of _your_ peace of mind..."

"Thanks." Yami curled a finger under Yugi's chin, tipped his head up, and kissed the end of his nose. "Good night, love. Sleep well."

He enjoyed the memory of Yugi's blush all the way back to the stairs, where he found Mahaad waiting for him.

"You are leaving him on his own tonight?" Mahaad frowned at this obvious dereliction of duty.

"His choice. I have to honor it." Yami sighed and ruffled his hair as he shoved his bangs back from his face. "I'm going to go up on the outer deck. Maybe something will happen tonight."

"I will go with you."

"No, they might see you. I'm sick of all this 'hurry up and wait' bullshit. Maybe if I'm up there alone, my contacts -- Interpol and/or cult -- will finally make themselves known."

"I do not like it, but you may be right." Mahaad left him at the entrance to the salon. "Good night, my friend. I will follow my own lead and speak with you in the morning."

Alone, Yami wandered around the ship for a while, making certain he was noticed. After visiting every space open to passengers, and a few that were not, he climbed to the upper deck. White upholstered lounge furniture surrounded a small swimming pool. Wearily, he dropped onto one of the chairs to wait.

Above all else, he had to protect Yugi. Finding Sugoroku was important, but Yami was beginning to fear it was too late for his colleague. He'd followed every instruction the cult had given him, yet they stayed away. It might mean they were being cautious, suspecting he was under surveillance by the police. Or it could mean that Sugoroku was dead.

If that were true, how could he face Yugi with the news? Tomorrow, he would go to Philae with Isis. It was his last chance to pick up Sugoroku's trail. If he failed again...

Yami sighed, tipping his head back so that he could see the stars sprinkled across the firmament. The ancient Egyptians had looked at the night sky and seen the goddess Nut, arching her starry body from horizon to horizon above her husband Geb. The sounds of the river surrounded him: the lapping of the water against the hull, the thrum of the _River Horse_'s engine, the faint cries of some nocturnal bird. A breeze carried with it the cool, green scent of water and vegetation, and a whiff of smoke from the distant shore.

Eventually, the stillness lulled him to sleep.

_He dreamed of shadows, and a room with walls of solid gold. Gold rested against his skin -- at wrist and ankle, wrapped about his arms, and heavy on his brow. In his cupped hands, he held the Millennium Puzzle. He raised it above his head, then flung it down with all his might. _

_The Puzzle shattered._

_Golden light, more blinding than the sun at mid-day, flared. His body arched in agony as his soul was torn from it, ripped apart as surely as he had sundered the Puzzle. _

_His _ba_ lingered long enough to see the pieces scatter across the stone floor. His _kau_ -- one mortal, one divine -- hovered above the glittering pieces of the Puzzle. The kingly _ka_ could not be trapped, for it belonged to the Great God Horus and was too powerful, but the mortal _ka_ was drawn into the scattered pieces with a shriek of torment. _

_Then the gold room faded, as did his _ba_, until only the shadows remained._

--

Yami awoke with his heart pounding against his ribs, and a terrible conviction he needed to get to Yugi. He flung himself from his chair, stumbling over its mate in his haste, and practically fell down the stairs to the lower deck. He pressed his ear to Yugi's door, but heard nothing.

He stood for a long moment, his hands flat against the wood of the door, willing his heart rate to return to normal. Yugi was fine. _He_ was fine. He had not ripped his own soul apart and sealed part of it in a piece of tacky gold jewelry. It was just a dream.

Berating himself for his foolishness, he headed back upstairs. An hour later, as the sky came alive with the rebirth of the sun, Mahaad joined him. His friend settled neatly onto the lounge chair beside his, crossed his ankles, and said, "All is well?"

Yami honestly didn't know how to answer him.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Yugi's sleep was restless, but it wasn't until Yami appeared in his dreams and they turned erotic that he awoke -- tangled in the sheet, and sticky with sweat and the inevitable aftermath of such dreams. With a groan, he un-mummified himself and went into the tiny shower to rinse off. He pulled on a fresh t-shirt and boxers, then spread Sugoroku's papers out on the bed and tried to decipher the riddle of his grandpa's whereabouts from the notes. Eventually, he dozed off again, no closer to solving the mystery than before.

_The strong scent of heavy incense filled the air around him, so sweet and thick he could taste it on his tongue. The room was deep in shadows and as silent as a tomb. He took a deep breath of dry, stale air. The heat was oppressive, suffocating. He moved, trying to stand, and found his arms and legs were bound._

_Panicking, he shifted, straining at the bonds, and realized he was lying against a wall of gold, stretching up toward the distant ceiling. It took a minute for him to recognize the thing he was lying against -- a golden funeral shrine, like the one found in Tutankhamun's tomb. He twisted his neck, peering around him with wide eyes. More burial goods surrounded him -- golden statues, a funerary couch shaped like an elongated lion, boxes and baskets and chests filled with objects the deceased might need in the afterlife. Everywhere he looked, everything he saw pointed to one conclusion._

_He was trapped in a tomb--_

His own shout woke him. Panting, Yugi sat up. He was in his cabin on the _River Horse_, sprawled on the bed with Sugoroku's papers scattered around him, not bound in a sweltering tomb somewhere in the dark. That nightmare... That was Sugoroku's. That must be where he was being held.

He had to tell Yami.

Yugi scrambled from the bed and yanked on the first clothes he came to in the closet. He was just fastening his jeans when a soft knock came from the door. Automatically, he glanced at his watch. Who would be knocking on his door at five-thirty in the morning?

Cautiously, he opened the door, then blinked in surprise at Mana. The young guide held a tray laden with breakfast food, the aroma of which made his stomach growl. Mana's smile showed some strain, but her tone held her usual cheer. "We made excellent time last night, and will dock in Aswan shortly. Mr. Crawford noticed you didn't finish your dinner, so he suggested I bring you an early breakfast."

"That's very thoughtful of you, Mana. Thank you." He stepped back so she could bring the tray inside and place it on the built-in dresser. "It smells delicious."

"Oh, good." Mana toyed nervously with the hem of her blouse. "I wasn't sure what you would like, but I hope you'll enjoy it." She hesitated in the doorway. "Um. Will you be exploring Aswan on your own, or will you join us for the tour of the Aga Khan's mausoleum?"

Covering a yawn with the back of his hand, Yugi shook his head. "I think I'll stay onboard this morning. I didn't sleep well and I could use the rest."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." Despite her words, his revelation seemed to lighten her spirits. "I think it's a very good idea, Mr. Mutou. You should stay on the ship and get lots of rest today!"

"All right..." Yugi watched her bounce up the corridor, then closed the door. Women were so confusing.

Shaking his head again, he wandered over to see what she'd brought him. There were several dishes -- more of the _ful medames_ that seemed to be a ubiquitous breakfast food throughout Egypt, some freshly baked bread, a bowl of rice, and some fruit. A pot of Earl Grey tea also sat on the tray. Yugi poured a cup and downed it in one go, hoping the jolt of caffeine would be enough to clear his head.

He sat on the bed to eat, scarfing most of the fruit and about half the rice before pushing the tray away. He'd nearly drained the teapot, but he felt more tired than ever. He rubbed at his eyes and yawned. Something seemed off, but... He shook his head, but the cobwebs only thickened. He stared blindly down at the tray in front of him, trying to force his brain into gear. What was wrong with him?

The room started to spin.

_Yami_. That thought, at least, was clear. _He needed to get to Yami._ Remembering the key Yami had given him, he fumbled for it on the nightstand, then staggered to his feet. He needed to tell Yami ...something. What? Oh, yeah, the dream. He had to tell Yami about Sugoroku and the incense-choked tomb serving as his prison. Yami needed to know about that right away. It was important.

Yugi fought his way down a corridor that seemed to expand and contract around him. He listed into the walls, ricocheting off them like a ball bearing in a _pachinko_ game. The world spun lazily around his head.

He'd made it as far as the upper stairway before he realized what was happening to him. He'd been drugged!

His first thought was to get help. But who could he trust? Only Yami.

Using his hands to find the way and pull him along, he made it to Yami's cabin. His hands trembled as he fumbled at the lock, finally managing to get the door open. He shoved at it and fell into the cabin. _Yami_-- Yami would help him.

Gray shadows nibbled at the edges of his sight, but Yugi managed to focus on the figure standing in front of Yami's closet door. The figure that wasn't Yami. Recognition hit and, along with it, fear.

"_You!_"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Yami awoke with the sincere conviction his bed was trying to kill him, or at least twist his spine into a pretzel. He shifted, trying to get comfortable, but to no avail. This had to be the worst bed he'd ever slept in -- and he'd slept in tents and caves and, once, a tree. Someone shouted close by, sailors exchanging greetings and instructions, and it came rushing back to him. He'd slept outside on the deck.

Groaning, Yami sat up. His back was stiff from lying on the lounge chair all night, and he had a vague memory of disturbing dreams. He got to his feet and saw they were docked at Aswan. A wooden _felucca_ had come alongside, and the men were shouting back and forth.

He stretched the kinks out of his spine with a satisfying pop, then quickly made his way down below. When he reached Yugi's corridor, he found Mahaad already leaning against the wall near the door to Yugi's cabin.

Mahaad grinned at his ruffled appearance. "Relax. I have been at my post since a few minutes after we docked. All is well."

"Have you checked on him?" A worried frown creasing his brow, Yami eyed the closed door. "Is he okay?"

"It is early. I did not wish to disturb his sleep."

They were momentarily diverted by loud voices coming from the stairway. Both men moved to the end of the corridor and poked their heads around the corner in time to see two _fellahin_ struggling with a large Oriental carpet. It sagged between them, buckling as they maneuvered it toward the stairs.

"No, no! You cannot bring that here!"

"For Mr. Crawford," one of the newcomers told the crewman who blocked his way. He had an odd accent, as if he normally spoke a different dialect, though it was one unfamiliar to Yami's ears.

Pegasus came thudding down the stairs. In his agitation, Pegasus' hair shifted to reveal his entire face. Shocked, Yami saw the golden orb that replaced the man's left eye. Then the long white strands fell back into their usual place, and Pegasus advanced on the men with the carpet.

"I told Karim I would examine the rug when I arrived, but I didn't expect him to send it to the ship! I would have come to his shop." With a long-suffering sigh, Pegasus gestured to the men. "Oh, very well. Since it's here, bring it up to my cabin. I shall inspect it _in situ_, as it were, before making my decision. However, I make no promises that I shall purchase it." Shaking his head, Pegasus led the two men up the stairs with their heavy burden.

Yami and Mahaad loitered in front of the reception desk, waiting for Yugi to appear. The other tour groups left the ship in clusters, first the French, then the Italians. Finally, several members of their own group trickled into the reception area, followed by Mana, who appeared to be counting heads. For once, she avoided Mahaad's gaze and didn't return his smile.

The others were all talking at once. Ryou wanted to visit the Old Cataract Hotel, which had appeared in the film _Death on the Nile_, based on his second-favorite Agatha Christie novel. Weevil announced his intentions to go shopping, and got no argument from Rex. Mai and her family trooped down the stairs, talking loudly about their eagerness to explore Aswan's more modern attractions. Looking bored, Bakura trailed after them.

They sounded like typical tourists. They acted like typical tourists. For all Yami knew, they were typical tourists. But one of them almost had to be a cult member. And, surely, at least one of them was from Interpol. Their behavior gave nothing away, however, no matter how closely he observed them.

For the _nth_ time, he peered down the corridor to Yugi's cabin, willing him to appear. What was taking him so long? He glanced at his watch. In the short time he'd known him, he'd never known Yugi to miss a meal.

Intending to check the dining room in case Yugi had somehow slipped past him, Yami found the way blocked by the men returning with the carpet. Pegasus had apparently rejected it, and the rug had been hastily re-rolled. The men struggled down the stairs with the lumpy, uneven cylinder between them.

Pegasus followed behind them, making his displeasure known to all who heard him. "Tell your employer I am shocked at the shoddy workmanship of this... this _thing_. To think he would even suggest I might acquire such an inferior rug is simply appalling. I shall retract all my recommendations of his shop and, from now, I will be doing business elsewhere."

The men seemed cowed by his ire. Heads bowed, they hurried down the gangplank, carrying the rug as if their lives depended upon getting it back to its proper place.

Turning to the crowd of gaping tourists, Pegasus spread his hands in a gesture of apology. "Please forgive my tardiness. With that unpleasant business attended to, I am ready to accompany any who wish to visit the Aga Khan's mausoleum. We will leave at once, if you are ready."

"Where's Yugi?" Yami demanded, not caring how he sounded. Protective. Possessive. Paranoid. It didn't matter.

Pegasus fixed a stern eye on Mana. "Did you take Mr. Mutou his breakfast this morning?" At her nervous nod, he added, "Did he share his plans for the day with you?"

"He said he wouldn't be joining the group this morning. He said he wanted to rest, and would stay aboard the ship."

"Ah. That's fine, Mana." Pegasus directed his urbane smile at Yami. "You see? Nothing to worry about." His gaze swept past Yami and onto the others. "Now that's settled, I am simply delighted so many of you have accepted my invitation for a _felucca_ ride on the Nile this morning. Please come with me."

Yami watched Pegasus lead his little group toward the wooden sailing boat docked beside the _River Horse_, and felt his stomach tighten. Something wasn't right. He knew it, could feel it in his gut. A sense of foreboding nagged at him.

Weevil paused on his way past. "Maybe Yugi went shopping. He told me yesterday he hadn't had time to buy any souvenirs yet." Then he hurried after the others.

"Wherever he is, I'm damn well going to find him!"

Yami's growled words startled Mana into immobility. She gulped visibly as she met his gaze. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Mahaad intervened, perhaps sensing it was the only way to avoid possible bloodshed. "I will go with Mana in case Yugi has indeed ventured into town alone. I will check with you later, Yami." He shooed Mana down the gangplank before Yami could respond.

Yami huffed out a breath, and dragged both hands through his hair. Mahaad's defection was unexpected, but understandable. Still, it left him all alone with his increasing agitation. He glanced back down the corridor to Yugi's cabin. First things first...

Twenty knocks later, Yugi still hadn't answered the door, and Yami was getting frantic. After a quick look around to make sure no one was looking, he put to use a skill he'd picked up in college along with his degree and picked the lock.

Yugi's cabin was empty. Yami's gaze swept over the room, but nothing seemed out of place. Nonetheless, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong.

Leaving the cabin, he made a thorough search of the ship, stem to stern. Finally, dread sinking like a lead weight in his gut, he had to admit the truth -- Yugi wasn't onboard. Resolve settled over him, steeling his nerves. He'd go ashore and search. Nothing was going to stop him from finding Yugi.

"Dr. Viridian?" The man at the reception desk called to him as he stalked toward the gangplank. "There is a call for you from Lieutenant Bahur."

Yami practically snatched the phone from the other's hand. "Mahaad? He's not on the boat."

"Then we shall search the town," came the steady response. "I am at the Cataract Hotel. I will head back your way on foot. Stay off the main thoroughfares and do not ask questions -- you will alert the wrong people if you do. I will contact the local authorities."

He knew Mahaad was right, but it still didn't sit well. He'd turn this blasted town upside down if he had to. One way or another, he was going to find Yugi.

Ten minutes later, he was cursing the cult and Interpol alike as he prowled along the usual tourist spots on the Corniche, hoping for some sign of the other man. When that failed, he ignored Mahaad's advice and went to search the bustling market. He fended off the overzealous vendors with a growled, "_Ebed annee! Sebny fi hali_." They left him alone as commanded, grumbling under their breath about the irritable Westerner.

After a time, he was unable to resist asking if they had seen anyone matching Yugi's description, but the answer was always no. He asked at the spice stalls, and the jalabiya shop, and of two boys crouched over a makeshift game board playing _mancala_, all to no avail. Then he noticed the rug shop. That curious tugging, the same one he'd felt at Karnak when Yugi was in danger, was back. Knowing better than to ignore it, he let it lead him into the small shop.

A quick but thorough search of the interior turned up no sign of Yugi. Disappointed, Yami stalked back onto the street. He was missing something; he could feel it. The tugging remained, but it was too vague to give him a sense of the direction he should go. Frustrated, he called the _River Horse_, but there was no news. Next he tried the police station. They informed him that Mahaad had been there and alerted them to the disappearance of a tourist. Belatedly, it occurred to him to check the local hospital, only to find Mahaad had already been there, as well. His friend, always good at his job and clearly thinking more logically than Yami was capable of at the moment, had covered all the bases. But, like Yami, he'd found nothing.

The fear that shot through him was anything but logical. What if the cult had taken Yugi, too?

They didn't need another hostage, he thought, jaw clenching so tightly it sent a stab of pain through his temples. He had the damned Millennium Necklace, all they had to do was come and get it! His hands curled into impotent fists. He hated feeling so helpless, but he could only keep searching.

There was a lot of ground to cover. He went to every place he could think of that Yugi might be, including the granite quarries on Elephantine Island, and the Museum of Aswan. On Kitchener Island, north of Elephantine, he ran into Mana showing the four New Yorkers, Weevil, and Ryou around the botanical gardens.

"Have you found Yugi?" they all asked, with varying degrees of concern. They were seated around an outdoor table, sipping glasses of dark red _karkade_ -- sweet hibiscus tea -- and enjoying the breeze.

"No." He snapped out the word, his eyes roaming around the flower beds and hedges. "I hoped he might be here."

Mana looked everywhere but at him, her trembling fingers shredding the guide brochure she was holding. "I'll h-help you search. I will check to the east, then meet you back here in thirty minutes." Before Yami could say anything, she bolted around a stand of flowering bushes, startling some birds into noisy flight, and disappeared.

Like a lion faced with fleeing prey, Yami instinctively gave chase. He'd already checked the other side of the island, and the tugging was back, urging him to follow her. He darted around bougainvillea and hibiscus heavy with bright blooms, dogging her steps. She seemed thorough in her search; by the time they returned to the terrace, they'd covered the entire east side of the gardens. Mana quickly convinced the others to leave.

"Of course, we must go at once," Ryou said firmly. "If Yugi is missing, we must return to the ship and notify the proper authorities."

"Maybe he's already returned." Serenity looked hopeful. "He might've gone sightseeing or shopping, and we just haven't run into him. There are a lot of places he could be..."

With no other option immediately apparent, Yami accompanied the group back to the _River Horse_. Weevil was so loaded down with purchases, it took three of them to cart his haul back to the boat.

By the time they reached the Nile cruiser, the sun was setting and Yami was fuming. If anything had happened to Yugi, he didn't think he could be held accountable for his actions when he got his hands on the guilty party. He hung back as the others boarded, trying to figure out what he had missed. Maybe he was worried for nothing. Maybe Interpol had simply decided to remove Yugi from harm's way...

Mahaad met him in the reception area, defeat evident in the slump of his broad shoulders. Before Yami could question him, Isis approached them. With some chagrin, Yami remembered he had agreed to help her inspect Philae for damage. "I'm sorry--"

She waved off the apology. "I have been informed of Mr. Mutou's disappearance. Such a terrible thing." She appeared genuinely distressed by the news. "I spoke with all my diplomatic contacts in the area, but... I'm sorry to say, I have had no results."

"I am afraid my own efforts have been no more successful," Mahaad said. His searching gaze swept over the group gathered in the lobby and paused on Mana.

"I don't care what it takes." Yami's voice was a low growl. "I'll comb through every inch of sand in Egypt and the Sudan if I have to, but I _will_ find him."

"We have no time for that," Mahaad reminded him. "We need assistance."

That reminded Yami... "What about Interpol? Could this be their doing?"

Mahaad pulled him aside, not far from where Mana was standing. "I considered that possibility, so I made a call. They claim no knowledge of Yugi, either his disappearance or current whereabouts." He cast a sidelong glance at the young woman hovering nearby, then said, "Also, it appears Mr. Crawford was forced to cut his river excursion short. When I returned, I found the part of the tour that had accompanied him already dining. They informed me Mr. Crawford was called away on a business emergency."

Mana gasped, her face draining of all color.

That was apparently the reaction Mahaad had been waiting for. He spun and grasped her by the arm, preventing her from bolting. "You know something, Mana. You must tell us what it is, at once!"

The room fell silent as, all around them, conversations died. Everyone waited to hear what Mana would say. Yami felt a flare of returning hope.

"C-can we go somewhere more private to talk about this?" Mana asked in a small voice. She hung her head, not daring to meet Mahaad's disapproving gaze. "I'll tell you everything I know, I promise."

Yami didn't give a damn about privacy, but if that's what it took to pry the truth out of her, he'd provide it. "Fine. We'll go to my suite."

Before allowing Mahaad to steer her toward the stairs, Mana offered the tour group a watery smile and urged them to enjoy their dinner. Most of them headed toward the dining room, but Ryou lingered.

"I should like to know what's going on. I'm worried about Yugi, of course, but if the rest of the tour is in any danger, we should be informed--"

"I appreciate your help looking for Yugi today," Yami interrupted, "but there's really nothing you can do right now except let us speak with Mana in private. Go have dinner. If we find out anything, we'll let you all know."

"Very well." Worry still shining in his eyes, Ryou followed the others up the stairs.

As Mahaad angled Mana toward the stairs for their own trek upward, Rex trotted downward, complaining loudly in his gravelly voice about Weevil's purchases. His audience consisted of Mai and Bakura, one behind the other on the stairs. Bakura did a blatant double-take when he saw Weevil standing in the bulwark created by his packages.

"What did you do, buy a build-your-own pyramid kit?" Bakura's gaze shifted to Yami. "Any luck finding the shrimp?"

"No." Yami's basilisk glare should've left Bakura a small pile of smoking ashes. "And just what do you know about Yugi's disappearance?"

"Me?" Bakura had several inches on Yami, but, faced with the other's fury, he fell back a couple of steps and raised his hands as if to ward off an attack. "I have better things to do with my time than keep up with Mutou's comings and goings. Besides, I've been with Mai all day."

Mai favored them with a cool nod. "We were sightseeing. Didn't see Yugi, though."

"Dude, what's all the fuss?" Rex slouched half-over the railing. Today's t-shirt was another tyrannosaurus design, this time with a logo reading _Dinosaur King_. "Yugi's not a kid. Maybe he just wanted some time alone."

"Please don't concern yourselves," Mana said, surprising Yami with her soothing tone. She seemed to have gotten a grip on her nerves. "All will be well. Enjoy your evening."

They extracted themselves from the group, leaving Rex to loudly inform Weevil that he was not going to be responsible for shipping "all this junk back to the States." Once they reached Yami's cabin and closed the door, Mahaad crossed his arms and looked down his nose at Mana, who cringed. Somehow, they'd picked up Isis along the way. Perhaps she thought her SCA post leant her an authority the other woman would respond to. Mana's eyes shifted uncertainly between her three interrogators.

"Sit down, Mana." Yami bit out the words. He was keeping a tight rein on his temper, but it wasn't easy. All he wanted was to lash out, demand she tell him where Yugi was. He knew he couldn't risk scaring her into silence, so he dug his short nails into his palms and tried to moderate his tone. "We just want to hear what you know about Yugi."

Before Mana could speak, Isis cleared her throat. "What exactly is going on? If there is an international incident brewing, I need to be informed." Egypt was dependent on its tourist income. Vanishing visitors were bad for the country's image, and the government would have to do damage control as quickly as possible.

"Miss Ishtar, I assure you..." Mana swallowed heavily, and started again. "Mr. Crawford had nothing to do with Mr. Mutou's disappearance!" Her hands clutched nervously at the arms of her chair.

"You are not as sure of that as you would like to be, are you?" Mahaad challenged. He leaned over her. "You begin to wonder why Mr. Crawford asked you to watch Yugi so diligently."

"I--"

"And you wonder why he told you to take breakfast to Yugi at such an early hour this morning," Mahaad persisted. "You wonder if, perhaps, things are not quite as you thought they were."

Mana flinched, and stared hard at her shoes.

"Where's Pegasus?" Yami demanded, halting his pacing in front of her. "Where has he gone?"

"I... I can show you, if you'll let me. He conducts business from his home on Elephantine."

"I will arrange transportation at once." Mahaad cast a last, hard look at Mana, then turned purposefully and strode from the room.

"I must insist that I accompany you," Isis said.

Yami understood her concerns as an official of the Egyptian government, but in that moment, he didn't give a damn about anything but finding Yugi. "Do whatever you want. I don't have time to argue with you."

"I know you're worried about Mr. Mutou, but I'm confident we will find him unharmed." Isis gestured to Mana, and moved to the door. "Come. Let us find the officious Lieutenant Bahur. No doubt he has secured us transportation by now."

Yami ran down the gangplank toward the police car Mahaad had commandeered to take them to a nearby dock. As they drove, he tried to clear his head and think. Yugi had come to Egypt to rescue his grandfather. Maybe he had figured something out from Sugoroku's notes and gone after the old man on his own. After a second, Yami rejected the notion. Yugi was brave, but he wasn't foolish. If he'd discovered a clue, he would've come to Yami first, or at least left a message.

A small motorboat took them across the moonlit Nile. In the darkness, he could just pick out the looming forms of the rocks, worn by nature into the shape of elephants, which gave the island its name.

On the island, Mana led them down a graveled path to an elegant colonial era mansion surrounded by a well-tended garden. The house was peaceful and dark, except for a light shining from a second-story window near the back.

Yami's breath quickened with anticipation. He firmed his grip on Mana's arm and hastened her up the walk.

A tall, gray-haired man opened the door when Mana rang the bell. "Good evening, Kemo. We've come on urgent business to see Mr. Crawford."

He bowed them into a long center hallway. Silk carpets covered the pink granite floor, and heavy English antiques lined the walls, but Yami scarcely noticed the décor. The tug was back. It was only by a supreme effort of will that he refrained from charging up the stairs to investigate on his own.

Kemo led the way, not appearing to notice Yami's anger or Mana's murmured, "You'll see. I've spoken only the truth."

Suddenly, Pegasus appeared at the top of the stairs. He wore an exquisite, silk brocade robe that wrapped about his slender body and trailed on the floor behind him as he descended the steps with all the dignity of a pharaoh holding court. The visible half of his face was expressionless, revealing neither surprise nor guilt.

"Mana? What is this 'urgent business' that's brought you here at such a late hour?"

"Yugi is missing and we want to know what you know about it." Yami advanced on him, utterly unintimidated by the other's height or deliberately imposing stance on the stairs above him.

"Oh, how utterly dreadful!" Pegasus clapped a hand to his cheek in exaggerated dismay. "We must find Mr. Mutou at once -- without, of course, provoking an embarrassing 'incident', as I'm sure Ms. Ishtar will agree. I assume the proper authorities have been notified, therefore, my humble resources are at your disposal."

Yami had never wanted to punch anyone as much as he wanted to punch Pegasus at that moment.

"What 'urgent business' called you away from the _River Horse_ and your passengers?" Mahaad interjected. Despite his controlled expression, there was a certain hint of a similar pugilistic impulse in his tone as well.

"Pegasus Tours does business with a number of establishments up and down the Nile, which we recommend, in turn, to our clients. To that end, I consider it my duty to personally insure they continue to deliver quality workmanship and service. Hence my need to travel to each establishment periodically. Unfortunately, I have found an exception here in Aswan whose product simply does _not_ meet our high standards, and I have been forced to terminate the relationship." He tossed his hair. "It's _most_ distressing."

That jogged a memory loose. Yami took the final step that put him on equal footing with Pegasus. "The carpet this morning. That came from an unsatisfactory source?"

"Don't remind me!" Pegasus brushed long fingers into his hair, giving them a glimpse of his strange artificial eye. "I'm afraid I can no longer, in good conscience, recommend Karim's Carpet Emporium. Now." He clasped his hands. "How may I be of further assistance?"

Behind Yami, Mana made a small, distressed sound. He flashed her a look, just as Mahaad said, "Mana? What is it?"

"Mr. Crawford... I'm sure he's only forgotten, but..." Mana took a deep breath, and spoke the rest in a rush. "Those men were not from Karim's Carpet Emporium. It is a family business, and I know them all by sight, right down to the delivery men."

"Shit!" Yami spun around and grabbed the front of Pegasus' robe. "You son of a bitch. You used that fucking carpet to get Yugi off the boat -- What did you do, drug him first? If he's hurt in any way, I swear I'll kill you!"

Mahaad had to pry Yami's fingers loose from where he was twisting the fabric of Pegasus's robe under his chin, choking him. As Pegasus clutched his throat and wheezed, they heard someone at the door. Kemo reappeared, escorting Rex and Weevil, who was carrying a large, flat package wrapped in brown paper.

The pair froze at the sight of the tableau on the staircase. Weevil dropped the package, backing up so that he stumbled into Rex. They fell all over themselves trying to get back out the door, but Mahaad was down the steps in a flash, blocking the way. "Stop!"

"Why should we?" Rex's bravado failed him when a gun appeared in Mahaad's hand as if by magic.

"Because if you do not, I may forget that I am arresting you and simply shoot," Mahaad said.

"Good reason." Rex and Weevil raised their arms in surrender.

Before anyone could react, Kemo scooped up the fallen package and tossed it to Pegasus, who turned and fled up the stairs. At the top, he pressed a spot on the wall, and ducked into the passage a section of wood paneling slid aside to reveal.

"Secret passage!" Yami yelled down to Mahaad before diving after Pegasus. Unfortunately, the panel closed before he could get to it. He ran his hands over the wall, but couldn't find the trigger mechanism. Cursing, he spun on his heel and dashed along the hallway, hoping to spot Pegasus -- or anything useful. After a few minutes, he was forced to give it up as futile.

He returned to the foyer to find Isis examining the wall for the secret panel. Mana was sitting on the lower steps, her face in her hands. He thought she might be crying. Mahaad still had Rex and Weevil at gunpoint; the two were losing more of their composure with each passing second. Yami stalked over to them and grabbed Weevil by the collar.

"What was in that package?"

Weevil cringed as if anticipating a blow. Yami felt he might have to oblige him. He gave the shorter man a shake. "Well? What was it?"

"Just some old thing that turned up in our antique shop," Weevil blurted. He tried to wriggle free, but Yami's grip was unbreakable. "Looked like a gold dreamcatcher or something."

"Shut up, you moron!" Rex hissed, then took his own advice when Mahaad glowered at him. The expression on the police lieutenant's face was frankly more intimidating than the gun.

Yami shoved Weevil toward his partner. "Mahaad... Do you know what the Millennium Ring is supposed to look like?"

"I would say it might be described as a golden dreamcatcher."

_Fuck_. "That's what I was afraid you'd say." Yami turned his ire on Rex. "How did an ancient Egyptian artifact just 'turn up' in your antique shop?"

Rex blanched at the implication. "I'm a legitimate antique dealer!"

"I am certain the authorities will be happy to talk to you about that." Mahaad glanced up the stairs, but his gun never wavered. "Miss Ishtar, if you would call the Aswan police, I would be most grateful."

Yami pinned the two antique dealers with a glare that made them clutch at each other in sudden fear for their lives. "Where. Is. _Yugi?_"

"I don't know!" Rex shouted. "I just came to sell that stupid ring to Crawford!"

Unfortunately, Yami believed him. He cursed -- long, loud, and eloquent. Mana sobbed aloud. Weevil wet himself.

"Keep an eye on these idiots," Yami said to Mahaad, who nodded. "I'm going to look upstairs."

"Good luck, my friend."

_Yeah_, thought Yami. He had a feeling he would need it.


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note: I'm revising the chapters that follow this one, so updating should go back to once or twice a week from now on. Thanks to everyone still reading -- and reviewing! Your comments inspire me to write more. Oh, and would anyone be interested in a sequel to this story?

Chapter 16

"Yugi! Yugi, where are you?!"

The familiar, compelling voice broke into the foggy cocoon surrounding Yugi's consciousness. He roused briefly, eyelids fluttering, before sinking back into the gray clouds that obscured all thought.

"_Yugi!_"

He drifted, trapped in a cool lethargy that numbed both body and mind. He sank deeper into the murk.

A resounding crash jerked his mind back toward awareness. Warm hands grasped his arms, shattering the icy rime that frosted his limbs, and left him limp in a pair of supportive arms.

"Damn it, Yugi, wake up!" that resonant voice demanded, and Yugi realized who held him. Yami! If he could have moved of his own volition, Yugi would've sagged in relief.

"Isis, I found him!" Yami lifted Yugi so that he was more-or-less upright, supported against Yami's chest. "We need some kind of emetic, something to help him get rid of the drug."

"I will find something."

"Hurry!"

All this shifting around was making his gray world spin most distressingly. Yugi groaned, and managed to crack an eyelid far enough to see Yami's worried face peering down at him. "Yugi, love, I need you to wake up now. Please, Yugi. For me."

Yugi forced the other eye open.

"That's it. Open those beautiful eyes for me," Yami coaxed. "Come on, Yugi, I know you can do it. You're strong, you can fight this off."

The next thing Yugi knew, he was on his feet, clinging to Yami as they shuffled an unsteady circuit around the bed. Yami murmured encouragement every shaky step of the way, catching Yugi when he stumbled.

"Isis! Where the _hell_ are y--? Oh. Did you find --?"

Another figure moved about on the edge of Yugi's vision, but he couldn't bring it into focus, and he was too tired to care. A moment later, a cup was thrust under his nose. "Drink this."

It smelled awful. Yugi wrinkled his nose and shook his head. He was parched, but he didn't want whatever belonged to that smell in his mouth. The rim of the cup was pushed insistently against his lips.

"Drink it, Yugi," Yami commanded, his tone brooking no disobedience. "It will help you feel better."

Trusting, Yugi parted his lips. Bitter liquid trickled across his tongue and spilled down his chin. It tasted twice as bad as it smelled. Feeling betrayed, he tried to turn his head away, but Yami held him and forced the cup to his lips again. "_Please_, Yugi. Trust me!"

Yugi opened his mouth and gulped the foul liquid down.

"That's right, that's good," Yami crooned. "Drink it all."

The liquid shriveled his taste buds and burned like fire going down his throat. Yugi coughed, then sucked in a startled breath as his stomach rebelled. In a desperate voice, he choked, "I'm gonna be sick!"

"That's the general idea--" Yami half-carried, half-dragged him into the bathroom, and held him while he rid himself of what felt like everything he'd ever ingested in his entire life. Yugi groaned.

Yami rubbed Yugi's back, steadying him until he'd finished emptying his stomach, then bathed his face and neck with a cool cloth. Finally, as Yugi hung limply in Yami's grasp, he found the energy to mutter, "What the hell was that stuff, anyway?"

"_Rubis d'Egypte_," Yami said, with a hint of laughter in his voice.

Yugi blinked at him. _Wha_--?

Seeing his confusion, Yami added, "Egyptian wine. A rosé, to be exact."

"I am _never_ touching that stuff again as long as I live."

Yami leaned down and kissed him on the nose. He was smiling. "At least you're alive."

Right now, the jury was still out on whether that was a good thing. "'m thirsty, Yami," Yugi mumbled, leaning against the other's strong shoulder. "C'n I have some water?"

"Of course."

Someone was sent to fetch bottled water from the kitchen. Yugi drained an entire bottle before his throat eased. It helped clear his head, too, and he jerked upright as that last moment in Yami's cabin, right before he lost consciousness, came slamming back into his memory like a planet-killing meteor.

"Pegasus is the cult member!" He gripped Yami's shirt and hauled himself up so they were eye to eye. "He took the necklace from your room." Yugi slid back down as his muscles turned to water again. "_Oh, god_. They don't need Grandpa for the exchange. They'll kill him."

"We'll find him. I promise." Yami brushed the ghost of a kiss across Yugi's brow. "It will be all right."

"How is he?" asked a quiet voice from the doorway.

Yugi squinted at the silhouette of a woman framed against the light from the bedroom. After a few seconds, he identified her as Isis Ishtar. Despite Yami's protests, Yugi pushed his way to his feet and tottered a few steps on his own before Yami wrapped a protective arm around his waist.

"Easy, _aibou_. Let me help."

Temporarily distracted from his goal, Yugi squinted up at Yami. "How much Japanese do you know, anyway?"

"Only a little." Yami smiled. "Sugoroku taught me."

Reminded of his grandpa, Yugi started moving again. He frowned at Isis, still hovering in the doorway. "Where's Pegasus? Is he under arrest?"

"The others are searching the grounds for him. We believe the secret passageway he used to escape may end some distance from the house." She nodded to Yami. "The police are here."

"Good," Yami growled. He supported Yugi as the shorter man made his stubborn way toward the distant door. "Yugi, you should lie back down--"

"I don't have time for that! We have to get to my grandpa before something terrible happens to him." Yugi struggled briefly against Yami's hold. "If you aren't going to help me, let me go!"

"Dammit, _of course_I'm going to help you!" Yami steadied him before he could fall. "Yugi Mutou, you are the most pig-headed man I've ever met, including _me_, and that's saying something. But I did not just save your life so you could turn around and get yourself killed!"

"You're not going anywhere without me!"

"Promise me that for the rest of my life, and I'll do anything you want."

Yugi gaped at him. Had Yami just _proposed_ to him? He gave himself a mental shake. He didn't have time for this right now. "Later... We definitely have to talk...but, not now. _Later_."

"All right." Yami sighed. "Come on, Superman. Let's get you downstairs."

When they reached the foyer, Isis trailing behind them, Rex and Weevil were being led away in handcuffs. Yugi was shocked. "_They're_ members of the cult?"

Yami snorted. "Rex is a small-time fence who stumbled across the Millennium Ring. Their only involvement was passing it along to Pegasus."

"That means the cult probably has at least four of the seven Items." Yugi closed his eyes and offered up a prayer to anyone who might be listening for his grandfather's safety.

"Five," Yami said. "I think Pegasus has the Millennium Eye."

"How do you know that?"

"I saw it." Yami grimaced. "In his left eye socket."

That was the kind of fanatical dedication they were up against. The kind that would make a man destroy his own eye in order to house one of the Millennium Items. Yugi shivered. "_Ew_. And… _Ow_."

"No kidding." Yami sighed again. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. "I think we'd better just assume they have _all_the Items now. We don't have any idea how many they may have started with, or if they found the Puzzle, but if they have Sugoroku-- "

"Yeah."

Mahaad, leading Mana by the hand, interrupted them. "Yugi, my friend! I am so glad you are all right."

Mana burst into fresh tears. "Oh, I was so afraid for you!"

"But..." Confused, Yugi looked at Yami. After all, Mana had brought him the drugged tea. Now she was one of the good guys again? How did that happen?

"Long story. The short version is: she helped us find you." Yami shot a questioning glance at Mahaad. "Any word on Pegasus?"

"Not yet. The search continues, however..."

The conversation faded. Around him, the world took on an eerie transparence, and everything was suddenly black and white. It was a phenomenon Yugi recognized. He'd seen it two years ago when Mokuba had been kidnapped. Then, he'd been granted a vision of the warehouse where the men from Seto's board of directors were holding Mokuba. Now...

"He's on the river!" Yugi gasped, as color flooded back into reality.

"What? How do you know that?"

"Sometimes, I can ...see things. Sense things. It's how I knew Grandpa was in danger in the first place." Yugi's eyes pleaded with Yami to believe him. "I just 'saw' Pegasus getting into a boat on the river."

Yami stared at him for a heartbeat, then looked around at the others. "What are we waiting for? Let's go get the bastard!"

For the second time in less than ten minutes, Yugi found himself gaping at Yami. "You... you believe me?"

"Of course I do. You're my _aibou_."

Speechless, Yugi let Yami grab his hand and pull him along as they sprinted out the door. Over his shoulder, Yami yelled to Isis, "Get us some back-up!"

Pegasus was indeed attempting to escape via the river. When they reached the dock, they could just make out a white sail disappearing into the distance. The motor launch was long gone, but Mahaad found a man willing to take them all in his _felucca_. They piled aboard and set sail immediately. There was no hope of catching Pegasus' craft, but if they could keep it in sight, they at least had a chance of following him to his destination. Surely he would have to put ashore at some point.

"There!" Mahaad pointed to a flash of white in the darkness ahead of them. "I can see his sail luffing. He has put to shore."

It seemed to take forever for their boat to reach the same dock. Mahaad jumped ashore, his long legs making the leap easily, then reached back to lift Mana across. Yami followed. For someone of his height, he seemed all leg sometimes, and it served him well now. Yugi studied the expanse of water between the dock and the boat with a wary eye. _The curse of the vertically-challenged Mutous strikes again_.

Yami solved the problem by reaching down, grabbing Yugi's arm, and lifting him onto the dock. Not only was Yami agile, he was strong. Yugi decided that helping each other was what partners -- _aibou_-- did, so there was no need to feel embarrassed. And, looking at Yami, he could tell the other man wouldn't even have understood what Yugi might have to feel embarrassed about. Yami really did see them as equals. Yugi's heart swelled. If they didn't have a cultist to catch, he would've have shown Yami just how much that meant to him.

Mana waved her arm excitedly. "There he goes!"

They caught a glimpse of Pegasus running toward a cluster of buildings, but by the time they reached the same intersection, he was out of sight. Yami cursed and, to Yugi's surprise, Mahaad joined him. The two of them had quite an impressive vocabulary, in both English and Arabic. Yami even threw in a few words in Japanese that made Yugi blush.

Mana glared them to silence, then disappeared into one of the buildings, little more than a shack with several cars parked in the stretch of sun-baked earth that served as a front yard.

"Can we trust her?" Yugi couldn't help being suspicious. She had been partially responsible for his kidnapping, after all.

"Yes." The confidence in Mahaad's reply was as much of a surprise as his cursing had been. "She helped us find Pegasus' house -- and you. She was misled, but she will not let us down again."

A moment later, Mana returned with a set of car keys dangling from her fingers. "I know the drivers here from earlier tours. I got us a car, but we must hurry. Mr. Crawford took one of the cars and headed into the desert."

"If he gets too far ahead of us, we will never find him," Mahaad agreed. He took the keys over her aborted protest. "I have more experience with tailing cars than you do."

Soon, they were in an ancient, big-as-a-beached-whale LTD that resembled a collection of rust spots held together with wishful thinking more than it did an actual car, and racing east into the African night.

"There's nothing between here and the Red Sea," Yami noted. "Unless he heads for Berenice -- he could charter a small plane out of the country there."

"We will soon find out--"

Taillights flashed ahead of them. Mahaad slowed, cutting their headlights and keeping the other car just within the range of sight. Luckily, he seemed to have excellent night vision.

After another few minutes, Yami muttered, "He's heading into the Sudan."

"What does that mean?" Yugi was frustrated and confused. He was good at math, and a genius at games, but geography had never been his forte.

Yami spared him a quick glance and a tiny smile. "He's not going to Berenice."

Well, that was a relief. But Yugi still had no idea where Pegasus _was_going. He reached for Yami's hand. The look he got this time held equal parts surprise and delight. Yami gave his fingers a gentle squeeze. "There's nothing out here but desert. Unless... Mahaad, is there an oasis out here anywhere?"

"None that I am aware of. We can only follow -- and wait."

Eventually, they left the paved road behind. The car crunched its way at a much slower pace over the rough desert track, tires occasionally slipping in loose sand. They bounced along the uneven terrain, hanging onto the seats or door handles to brace themselves. The ride was rough, the car's shock absorbers having apparently been extinct since shortly after its manufacture sometime in the early Paleolithic.

Where was Pegasus going? Did he know they were right behind him?

Yugi hunched tensely on the edge of the back seat, his gaze glued to the windows, but there was nothing to see except the taillights of the other car. Beside him, Yami was a solid, reassuring presence.

When a rise obscured Pegasus' car from view, Mahaad hit the accelerator and sent their car surging forward. With relief, they saw the sedan's taillights again as they crested the hill and swept down into the dip on the other side. Across the small valley, another hill rose skyward. Pegasus was already near the top. By the time they cleared the second rise, the other car was nowhere in sight.

Mahaad cursed and floored it. The car shot forward, the sudden momentum throwing Yugi into Yami's side. Yami wrapped an arm around him and held on tight. They all craned to see out the windows, trying to spot the other vehicle.

"We can't give up!"

Yami gave him a short, reassuring squeeze. "We won't."

They continued on, more slowly now, every eye searching the darkness. Yugi got a flash of ...he wasn't sure what... and shouted, "Stop here!"

Mahaad slammed on the brakes. The car fishtailed in the sand before coming to a rocking halt. Everyone turned to look at Yugi. He shrugged helplessly. "I thought I sensed something, but it's gone now."

"If only I had listened to my instincts about Mr. Crawford sooner," Mana mourned. "But he had been so kind to me, so helpful. The job he gave me helped pay for my brothers' education..." She sighed. "I guess I'm not the good judge of character I thought I was."

"You will know better next time." Mahaad offered her a soft smile. She leaned toward him like a flower turning its face to the sun.

Yami and Yugi exchanged glances, and silently agreed to give them some privacy. They got out of the car, Yami grabbing one of the stained and creased maps littering the rear floorboard. While Yugi held the flashlight, Yami spread the map on the trunk of the car. He traced a line on the map with his index finger.

"This is the way we came." Yami shook his head. "We really are in the middle of nowhere."

Muttering to himself, Yami continued to study the map. Yugi walked a few steps away from the car, drawn by a curious formation he could see in the near distance. He turned back to Yami. "Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?"

"_That_." Yugi pointed at the shape in the distance. It was hard to see in the darkness, but the odd outline against the sky had triggered something in his memory. He pondered it as Yami walked over to join him.

"It's just a rock formation," Yami said, after a moment's squinting. "It's an unusual shape, but it's natural--"

"Wait!" Yugi bounced once with the excitement of solving a puzzle that had stumped him for too long. "I remember now -- there was something in Grandpa's notes about the Nameless Pharaoh journeying to the afterlife on a 'ship of the desert'. At first, I thought it meant a camel, but that didn't make sense, because camels weren't introduced into Egypt until the Persian conquest, which was a long time after the Nameless Pharaoh's reign, so--"

"_Breathe_, Yugi."

Realizing he was babbling, Yugi forced himself to slow down and take a deep breath. Then he continued, "Anyway, obviously the text didn't mean the Pharaoh was traveling on a camel. But I think I see what it _did_ mean. Look closely at those rocks. What do they look like from this angle?"

They both spent a few seconds gazing at the rock formation -- which, as Yugi had spotted, vaguely resembled the curved and backward-arching prow of an ancient ship.

Yami turned a look filled with admiration on Yugi. "A ship of the desert! And, if that's the Pharaoh's 'ship', then his tomb could be hidden underneath those rocks. Good work, love."

Yugi flushed, though he couldn't help his grin at the praise -- and the endearment. "I didn't really do anything."

"Don't sell yourself short. I read Sugoroku's notes, as well, and I saw that same reference. But I didn't put it together with that rock formation. I wouldn't have found the tomb, Yugi, but you did. I'm proud of you… and I'll see that you get credit for the discovery."

"I just want to find my grandpa. I don't care about the credit."

Yami wrapped an arm around Yugi's shoulders and gave him a quick hug. "_I_ care. Now, come on. Let's go tell the others. Your 'ship of the desert' is farther away than it appears. We'll have to take the car."\

They hurried back to the vehicle and informed the others what they had found. Keeping the headlights off, they drove toward the burial mound in the distance. Yugi didn't need the stab of awareness in his heart to tell him they'd found what they were looking for. Yami disabled the overhead light, then they all crept quietly from the car.

Voices drifted to them from across the still desert -- loud, careless voices, raised in good-natured argument.

Yami grabbed Yugi and pulled him down onto the sand. In a hushed voice, he said, "For once, _please_do as I ask and stay put while Mahaad and I check to see how many sentries there are."

Yugi stared into his earnest brown eyes for a heartbeat, then leaned in and kissed him. Yami gaped at him. The grin that broke across his face was so bright, Yugi was amazed it didn't alert the sentries to their presence.

Mahaad and Yami crouched low and disappeared into the darkness. Left behind, Yugi kneeled beside Mana in the sand, and tried not to hold his breath. Because everything was so still, the soft click behind him made him jerk his head around in shock.

He didn't know much about guns, but he recognized the assault rifles aimed at them.

At a gesture from one of the gunmen, he got to his feet, offering Mana his hand when she faltered. He angled his body to put himself between her and the men threatening them.

"Ah, Mr. Mutou," intoned an all-too-familiar voice from the shadows. "Welcome to your final resting place."


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note: Kittyuehana has written (with permission) a prequel for this story called "The Ties of Friendship". It's about the beginning of Yugi's strange friendship with Seto and the kidnapping incident mentioned back in chapter one. I urge you all to give it a read. Since this site tends to kill links in the text, I've added ToF to my favorite stories. You can find the link there or in my profile.

Chapter 17

Yami and Mahaad came rushing out of the darkness -- too late. Armed men surrounded them and herded them over to join Yugi and Mana. Mana sobbed as she flung herself into Mahaad's arms. Yami stopped beside Yugi, close enough that their shoulders touched, and glared at the men threatening them.

Yugi bumped him lightly with his elbow and hissed, "Don't do anything stupid!"

All Yami's attention seemed focused on Pegasus. "So you were my contact all along. Reneging on our deal? You said you'd exchange Sugoroku Mutou for the Millennium Necklace."

"Alas, plans change." Pegasus smirked. "New arrangements supersede the old. Flexibility is such an asset in these troubled modern times. Wouldn't you agree, Yugi-boy?"

"Where's my grandpa?" Yugi demanded, ignoring the verbal leer.

Pegasus motioned one of the guards, a hulking brute in a sweat-stained _jalabiya _and filthy turban, forward. "Come along with the nice man and I'll take you to him."

"Over my dead body!" Yami interposed himself between Yugi and the advancing guard. Yugi tugged frantically at the back of Yami's shirt, but Yami wouldn't budge.

"If that is your destiny," Pegasus drawled, "then, so be it."

"No!" Yugi threw his arms around Yami's waist and wrestled him back when Yami would have made a suicidal lunge at the gunman. "Don't hurt him! I'll go with you."

It took Mahaad's help to restrain Yami, but between the two of them, they managed. Yugi grabbed the front of Yami's shirt and yanked him down to whisper, "If you get yourself murdered, I'll kill you!"

"Yugi-- You can't do this!"

"I need to see my grandpa. I'll be okay. Just... _Please_, don't get killed."

Mahaad's firm grip on Yami's arms kept him from trying to follow as the guard led Yugi away.

--

They entered the tomb via a shaft cut straight down into the bedrock. One of the guards lowered them, one at a time, by rope. Of course, another guard had gone first, ensuring Yugi had no opportunity to escape. The shaft led into a small chamber from which a slanting passage descended at a sharp angle. The interior of the passageway was narrow and strewn with rubble, and the downward slope made walking difficult. Yugi stumbled over a chunk of rock and fell, catching himself on his hands and knees. A sharp sliver of stone sliced into his palm, right over the old knife scar there. He struggled to his feet and wiped the blood on the leg of his jeans.

Pegasus urged him onward. "Careful. I need you in one piece."

_Oh, _he's_ a piece of work_, Seto's voice piped up without preamble. _Where'd you dig _him_ up?_

_Seto!_ Yugi clung to the familiar sarcasm like a lifeline. _Oh, god... I wish you were here_.

There was a long silence. For a moment, Yugi thought the connection had broken. Then...

..._Me, too, Mutou_.

Pegasus gave him a shove in the back, snapping the fragile thread of communication again, and forcing him into a small chamber barely large enough for the three of them. The guard held him by the arm while Pegasus used a knotted rope to ascend to a narrow shaft cut into the wall near the ceiling. The guard lifted Yugi; leaning down, Pegasus hauled him the rest of the way up and dragged him into the cramped passage.

"Thousands of years ago," Pegasus said, giving Yugi a push to get him started crawling along the tunnel, "enterprising tomb robbers laboriously chiseled this tunnel through the stone. Sadly for them, it was a dead end." A pistol had appeared in his hand; he waved it meaningfully at Yugi. "It serves our purposes nicely, however. Don't dally, Yugi. I'm sure your grandfather is anxious to see you."

The air in the tunnel was stale and hard to breathe, and the heat was oppressive. Yugi was panting by the time they came out into another chamber, this one about the size of a large walk-in closet. An opening in the floor, once concealed by a heavy stone that had been lifted aside, led down into another descending passage.

There were more twists and turns, a veritable maze of cramped passageways and hidden traps that Pegasus navigated with ease. Finally, Yugi tumbled out of the latest tunnel and into a large chamber hewn from the bedrock. He sat where he'd fallen, sucking the comparatively fresher air into his aching lungs, and was startled to realize it smelled of the spicy incense from his vision of Sugoroku on the _River Horse_. He looked around, desperate for some sign of his grandpa, and spotted a small brazier burning before a man-sized niche cut into the far wall. In the shadows of the niche, he could just glimpse the outlines of a human form -- the life-sized statue of a man.

"_Yugi?_"

He scrambled to his feet, his eyes wide, and flung himself at his grandpa as Sugoroku stepped out of the deep shadows pooling along the edges of the room. "Grandpa!"

Yugi's hug was fierce. He'd feared this moment would never come. Relief made him weak-kneed, even as he took in Sugoroku's gaunt and bedraggled appearance. "Are you okay?"

"What are you doing here, Yugi?" Sugoroku gripped his shoulders tightly. "It isn't safe for you to be here--"

"I knew you were in trouble. I had to come."

Sugoroku knew all about the psychic visions and dreams Yugi had experienced at unpredictable intervals since he was a child, so he didn't question that declaration. He pulled his grandson into another hug. "I wish you had stayed in Japan where it's safe, but I'm glad to see you."

"Such a _touching_ reunion." Pegasus had put away the gun, confident the guard could handle any attempts at revolt. "It brings a tear to my eye." His smirk grew as he swept his hair back to reveal the hidden side of his face.

"The Millennium Eye." Sugoroku sounded resigned. "So you _do_ have them all now."

"Oh, yes," Pegasus assured him. "All seven of the Millennium Items are here, in this chamber. Ring, Rod, Eye, Scale, Necklace, Key... and Puzzle."

He gestured to the altar that had been set up before the statue niche. A length of white linen draped over the oblong slab of stone. Atop it, six objects shone with the gleam of gold in the dim light of the lanterns set on either side. Pegasus strode to the altar and lifted one of the objects, a small golden box.

"The Millennium Puzzle." He turned to regard Yugi with a speculative gaze. "Dr. Mutou has been unable to solve it. However, I have high hopes for _you_, Yugi." He thrust the box into Yugi's hands. "After all, you'll have so much more incentive -- not only your life, but that of your grandfather... and dear Dr. Viridian."

"Leave them alone!"

"Of course," Pegasus purred. "Provided you solve the Puzzle for me. You'd better get started. I want it finished tonight."

"_Tonight?_ That's impossible!" Sugoroku protested. "I've been working on the damned thing since you captured me, and I haven't been able to piece together more than a quarter of it."

"Your grandson has a reputation as a gaming genius. I'm sure _he_ will have better luck."

"I'll try." Yugi's fingers clenched around the box tightly enough to make the scar on his palm throb.

"You had better _succeed_," Pegasus said. His flamboyant manner no longer hid the dangerous man underneath. His one remaining eye blazed with a mad zeal. "I'll leave you to your task, but I won't be gone long. I shall expect you to have the completed Puzzle waiting for me upon my return."

With that, he and the guard retreated through the secret passage, sealing it behind them. Yugi stared at the box in his hands, and felt his heart lurch. He didn't know if he could do this.

_Don't you dare_. Seto's mental voice was unforgiving. _You're better than that, Mutou. You don't give up, remember? If you'd given up two years ago, Mokuba would be dead_.

Yugi's head came up. He rubbed his scarred palm, remembering catching the knife that had been aimed at Mokuba. Seto was right. He could do this. He _would_ do this.

_Damn right you will. Don't forget -- If you don't get out of this mess and come home safely, Mokuba will be very upset with you_.

_Right_. A faint smile tugged at Yugi's lips. _I guess I'll have to solve the Puzzle. After all, I wouldn't want to upset... Mokuba_.

He thought he heard a faint laugh before Seto's end of the link faded into silence.

"Yugi? Are you all right?" Sugoroku's voice pulled Yugi back to the chamber. He sighed.

"Yeah. Guess I should get started on this thing, huh?" He plopped down cross-legged and spilled the golden pieces of the Puzzle out in front of him on the stone floor. He glanced at Sugoroku as the older man eased down beside him. "Where are we, anyway?"

Sugoroku cast a look around. "The tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh."

Yugi shivered. So, he and Yami had been right; they'd found the fabled lost tomb. He'd been afraid of that. Of course, the huge granite sarcophagus in the center of the room _was_ something of a giveaway. So were the walls, which he now saw were covered from floor to ceiling with brightly painted scenes of animal-headed gods and men (well, probably just one man, repeated over and over) in crowns. The wall of gold he'd seen in his vision was actually the pieces of the dismantled shrine that had once shielded the sarcophagus. They leaned against one wall of the chamber, sheets of beaten gold covered in hieroglyphic writing and pictures of the seven Millennium Items, each section taller than he was. If he craned his neck back, he could just make out the yellow five-pointed stars painted in rows across the ceiling.

"For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to find this place," Sugoroku mused, leaning back to rest against a heavy wooden chest that held provisions for the Pharaoh's afterlife. "And now that I've found it, I would rather be almost anywhere else."

So would Yugi -- Yami's arms would be about perfect. With a sigh, he picked up a couple of puzzle pieces and tried to fit them together. "What's so special about the Nameless Pharaoh, anyway? And why hasn't he got a name?"

"Oh, he has a name." Sugoroku gave a humorless laugh. He waved a hand at the walls of the burial chamber. "In fact, he has the usual five names of the royal titulary. It's just that every instance of his name outside of this tomb has been systematically erased from history."

"Why would they do that?" The first two pieces didn't fit, nor the second. Yugi chose a third and tried again. "I thought names were important to the ancient Egyptians."

"They were -- very important. Without his name, a person couldn't continue to exist in the afterlife. When the ancient Egyptians wanted to punish someone, one of the things they did was eradicate every mention of his name."

"So... The Nameless Pharaoh was a bad person? What did he do?"

"No. At least, I don't think so." Sugoroku watched Yugi fit two of the puzzle pieces together and reach for another. "It seems more likely it was a precaution against the very thing this cult is attempting. If the ancients had truly wanted to destroy the Pharaoh's spirit, they wouldn't have given him such an elaborate burial or preserved his names here. And they went to a great deal of trouble to bury him outside of the normal boundaries of the time. They wanted to make certain no one found his tomb."

Fingers still manipulating the puzzle, Yugi glanced at him. "What do you mean?"

"Judging from the few remaining textual references -- and from his burial goods -- the Nameless Pharaoh reigned at some time during the New Kingdom. Most royal burials during that period took place in the Valley of the Kings." Sugoroku looked around again. "I can only guess at the circumstances, of course, but they must have feared his tomb would be too easily found if he was buried in the customary place. But, here, in this desolate desert -- no one would have looked here. Not for a very long time, at least."

Yugi set another piece into place. His hands were moving almost automatically now, selecting pieces and turning them over to find the proper fit. "So, what was so special about him?"

"The Millennium Items." Sugoroku stroked a hand over his beard. It was looking a lot scragglier than usual. "They were said to be objects of great power. In the hands of the Pharaoh, they could heal -- or kill. Whoever controls them would have unthinkable power."

And Pegasus had them. Or would, when Yugi solved the Puzzle. He stared at the slowly forming shape in his hands. Should he do it? Was it right to let a madman have that kind of power? But, if he didn't, Pegasus would kill the others. He looked at his grandpa ... and thought of Yami and Mahaad, and even Mana. He couldn't let them all die.

_You'll think of something_, Seto's voice said in his mind. _You always do_.

Yugi hoped he was right. As the link went quiescent again, he added another piece to the Puzzle and wished he could control the strange psychic connection. As much as it heartened him to hear his friend's mental voice, Yugi would have given a lot to have it be Yami's instead.

_Yami_, he thought, projecting as hard as he knew how, _please be all right_...

--

Ignoring the gun the impatient guard jabbed into his ribs, Yami stopped and lifted his head. For just a second, he thought he'd heard Yugi call his name.

"Move." The guard jabbed harder, trying to force Yami back into motion.

"Where's Yugi?" Yami demanded, refusing to budge. "Where did that bastard take him?"

"What does it matter?" The guard leered darkly. "You'll never see him alive again."

Yami twisted, shoving the gun down and away, and kicked. Hard. Jabber went down with a cry of pain as Yami's boot shattered his knee. Before Yami could capitalize on the element of surprise, the second guard whipped the butt of his rifle into Yami's stomach. Unable to breathe and bent double from the pain, he collapsed on top of the first guard.

"Yami!" Mahaad was instantly beside him. His body shielding Yami from the second guard, Mahaad helped him to sit. "Slow breaths. Easy..." He leaned in to whisper, "Think with your head, not your heart. You cannot help him if you get yourself killed."

Reluctantly, Yami acknowledged that Mahaad was right. Besides, he could barely move, much less fight. At least he could breathe again. Moving stiffly, with Mahaad's help he got his feet under him and shuffled into the crude hut.

Once inside, Yami sank onto the only chair, wrapped his arms around his aching stomach, and concentrated on simply breathing for a while. Mahaad was a steadying presence at his back, one hand resting on Yami's shoulder. Finally, Yami straightened, pushing aside the pain with a supreme effort of will.

"Any..." He had to suck in a shallow breath and try again. "Any sign of Yugi?"

"Unfortunately, no." Mahaad left him to check on Mana, curled against the door. "We will find him -- and find a way out of this mess."

"Door locked?"

"Yes." Mahaad turned his head from where he'd been listening at the door. "Guards outside, too. I cannot tell how many."

"Peachy."

After reassuring Mana, Mahaad paced the confines of their prison, examining the dingy walls and furnishings. The walls were thick mudbrick, and windowless. Aside from Yami's chair, furniture was non-existent, and the straw mat on the floor didn't look promising as a weapon. By the time Mahaad had completed a single circuit of the small room, Yami had recovered sufficiently to join him by the door. Together, they studied the wooden panel with its lopsided hinges and loose doorknob. They exchanged grins.

"I think we can work with this--"

A sharp bang on the door interrupted him. The guard's coarse voice ordered them away from the door, then it swung sharply open to reveal the barrel of a rifle. "Get back!"

When they were all standing against the back wall in what felt uncomfortably to Yami like the classic "firing squad" position, Pegasus sauntered into the room. "Ah, gentlemen -- and lady. I trust you're finding the accommodations adequate to your needs?"

Mahaad made a pre-emptive grab and kept Yami from lunging at their captor. Pegasus waggled his finger at Yami. "_Tsk_, _tsk_, Dr. Viridian. Is that anyway to greet your host? And after I came all the way back to see how you were faring, too."

"What have you done with Yugi?" Yami demanded. He could tear free of Mahaad's grasp and wrap his hands around Pegasus' neck -- but the guard would shoot him before he got more than two steps, and that wouldn't help him rescue Yugi.

"I can assure you, Dr. Viridian, you will never find him on your own." Pegasus' mouth twisted in a smug expression that tested the limits of Yami's self-control. "Perhaps, if you are patient, I'll take you to him later. For now, it is best he remain… undistracted."

Something about the way Pegasus said it, made Yami's blood run cold. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Dear little Yugi is busy solving the Millennium Puzzle." The icy smirk broadened into a gleeful smile. "Once I have the completed Puzzle, I will possess all seven of the fabled Millennium Items -- and the power to make my dreams come true."

_Keep him talking_, Yami thought. _Maybe he'll say something that will tell me where he's taken Yugi_. "You really believe that nonsense? The Millennium Items are just artifacts, Pegasus. They can't grant wishes or give you power. That's just a legend."

"How narrow the borders of your mundane little world." Pegasus shook his head with mock sorrow. "Tell me, my dear doctor... Have you any idea where you are?"

"I left my GPS in my other pants."

"Mere yards from where we're standing lays an ancient tomb the likes of which modern archaeologists have never seen, a tomb that makes Tutankhamun's final resting place look like the paltry thing it is. But the real treasure is not the vast trove of golden objects and priceless artifacts buried with the occupant. No, the real worth of this tomb resides in the identity of the man laid to rest within it."

"And who would that be?" Yami asked, playing Pegasus' game and not caring if it made him appear a fool. Right now, the only thing he cared about was getting to Yugi.

"Why, the so-called Nameless Pharaoh, of course!" Pegasus' arms swept out in an extravagant gesture. "It was lost in antiquity or, should I say, deliberately hidden. But generations ago a powerful family discovered the lost tomb and all that was concealed within. For more than a thousand years, they have guarded the tomb, even burying their dead here. Now that the Millennium Items have all been recovered, the true power of this place will be unleashed at last."

"...You're insane."

"Am I? I prefer to think of it as 'cogitating outside the cardboard container'." Pegasus' cat-in-cream expression took on a nasty undertone. "Of course, to truly get what I want from the Items, I will have to offer them something in return."

Yami's blood turned to ice. "What?"

"Why..._souls_, of course." Pegasus threw his head back and laughed, the meager light sparkling off the golden orb in his eye socket. "Human souls!"

Still smiling, he turned, tossing an order to the guards as he passed through the doorway. "Bring them."

"No!" Mahaad threw himself in front of Mana, preventing the guard from grabbing her. As the two grappled, Yami lunged at the remaining guard. Taken by surprise, the man couldn't avoid the tackle, and Yami dispatched him with a sharp blow from the butt of his own gun.

The rifle gripped in his hands, Yami eased his head around the doorframe and peered outside. Predictably, Pegasus had disappeared again, and there was no one else in sight. He ducked back into the hut. Mahaad had taken care of his guard; the man was unconscious at the police lieutenant's feet.

"Let's get out of here," Yami grated, and darted outside. One arm protectively around Mana, Mahaad followed.

They stuck to the shadows, avoiding the few men they saw roaming the encampment. The men were all armed, and apparently alerted to their escape, as they were clearly looking for something as they circled the perimeter. Overheard conversation told the escapees that Yugi and Sugoroku were prisoners inside the tomb. Luckily, the search seemed to have pulled the sentries away from the shaft that served as the tomb's entrance.

"I'm going after Yugi," Yami said. "Stay here and guard the entrance so we don't run into any surprises on our way out."

"Be careful."

"You, too."

--

Yugi could tell his grandpa needed medical attention, and soon. The older man was dehydrated and hungry, his face worn with exhaustion. His captors had not been kind to Sugoroku, a fact that made Yugi increasingly angry. He fumbled a puzzle piece, sending it skittering across the stone floor. Biting his lip to hold back a curse, he crawled after it.

The piece had fetched up against the side of the red granite sarcophagus. Yugi retrieved the golden object, then got to his feet. This close, he could see the sides of the sarcophagus were carved with _bas_-relief depictions of the seven Items surrounded by presumably explanatory hieroglyphs. Looking up, he saw that the statue he'd spotted earlier was of a man wearing royal regalia. A replica of the Millennium Puzzle rested against his bare chest. Was this the Nameless Pharaoh himself? Yugi stepped closer, peering up at the delicately carved face. Even in the low light, that face was shockingly familiar.

"Yami!"

"What?" Sugoroku started awake and levered himself painfully off the floor. He limped over to stand beside Yugi. "What did you say?"

"The pharaoh... He looks like Yami!"

Sugoroku squinted at the statue's shadowed features. "_Hmm_. You're right. Funny, I never noticed that before."

Yugi stared at the face of his lover on the ancient statue. It wasn't merely a slight resemblance, either. Dressed in pharaonic gear, Yami would be a dead-ringer for the image. "Is this a statue of the Nameless Pharaoh?"

"That's him all right. His name was Atemhotep-meryamun Nebkheperu-re." Sugoroku laughed at the look on Yugi's face. "Yep, that's quite a mouthful. From some of the inscriptions, it seems he went by the personal name 'Atem'." He sighed. "It's the find of a lifetime. If only..."

"We're gonna get out of here, Grandpa. I promise."

Sugoroku visibly made the effort to appear more upbeat. "Yes, of course we are! I don't doubt it for a moment, m'boy."

"Right!" Yugi trudged back to where he'd left the Puzzle. It was almost finished. His grandpa had been amazed at Yugi's progress, but the Puzzle almost seemed to assemble itself in his hands. He picked it up and snapped another piece into place. Just like the gilded wooden replica around the statue's neck, the actual Puzzle was a pyramid shape with a central _udjat_ on the front. He glanced at Sugoroku as the older man eased back down to the floor and leaned heavily against the wall.

"You're exhausted, Grandpa. Why don't you get some more sleep while I work on this?"

"Well... Maybe I will close my eyes. Just for a minute or two..." Before long, Sugoroku began snoring again.

Yugi shook his head fondly. His grandpa never acted his age, but sometimes it took its toll on him. Working quickly, Yugi placed the final few pieces of the Puzzle into their proper places. He held the completed Item and wondered what would happen to them now.

The sound of stone grinding on stone filled the quiet as the ancient mechanism controlling the burial chamber door activated. Was Pegasus coming back to claim his prize?

Determined not to give up without a fight, Yugi leaped to his feet and looked around for a weapon.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Yami lowered himself down the shaft into the tomb. From there, it was just a matter of letting that mysterious "tug" pull him in what he hoped was the right direction. Since the tugging got stronger the deeper into the tomb he went, he could only pray it was leading him to Yugi. As he navigated the tomb, he left indications of the path -- a small stack of stones or an arrow scratched on the floor -- to show the way should Mahaad come after him or send help.

He struggled along cramped passages, scaled a stone wall using almost non-existent hand- and footholds, and skirted deadly pits waiting to trap the unwary. Until now, he'd never thought he would regard exploring an ancient tomb as a chore to be hurried through rather than as an adventure to be savored. But all that mattered was getting to Yugi and finding him safe. The decorated walls and ingenuous layout, designed to thwart tomb robbers, held no interest for him.

Panting in the hot, stale air, he clawed his way through another narrow tunnel. "Just hang on, love. I'm coming."

Repeating the words like an incantation, he made his way deeper into the tomb.

--

Yugi set the Puzzle beside his sleeping grandfather and snatched up the first likely thing that came to hand -- a stone _shabti_ fallen from a box of similar small statues. It wasn't very big, about the size of a large action figure (if the action figure were made of rock and shaped like a mummy), but it was heavy. If he got close enough to whoever was on the other side of the door, he was certain he could knock them out with a blow to the head.

Steeling his courage, he crept to the wall and took up a position beside the now open passage. He could hear sounds of movement in the shadows of the tunnel, cloth scraping against stone and someone breathing hard. He wiped his sweating palms on his jeans and hefted the _shabti_ over his head. The shape in the tunnel resolved itself into a man, who stuck his head through the opening into the chamber beyond.

Yugi swung the _shabti_ -- then recognized the head of messy auburn hair, and altered his trajectory so quickly he spun himself around in a circle. He righted himself and gasped, "_Yami!_" before flinging his arms around the other man and hugging him fiercely.

"_Aibou_." Yami returned the hug, with interest. "Are you okay, love?"

Unable to help himself, Yugi snickered as he pressed his face against Yami's chest and held on tightly. "Don't call me that."

Yami grinned down at him. "_Aibou_ or love?"

Since Yugi hadn't meant it, he ignored the question. "How did you find me? Never mind, you can tell me later. Right now, we have to get Grandpa out of here."

"Sugoroku's here? Is he all right?"

A groggy voice answered him. "Well, I'm not dead yet, so I'm not complaining."

They turned together to find Sugoroku rising unsteadily to his feet on the other side of the room. Yugi reluctantly let go of Yami to rush to his grandpa's side and keep him from falling. Over Yugi's shoulder, Sugoroku shot an appraising look at Yami, then nodded to himself. "It's good to see you, m'boy, though I wish the circumstances were better."

"Me, too, old man. How're you holding up?"

"Honestly? I've been better. But I'll hold together a little longer."

"Good to hear it, 'cause we're getting the hell outta Dodge and, no offense, but I don't think Yugi and I can carry you."

"Yami!"

" I can take care of myself. You worry about yourself -- " Sugoroku winked. " -- and Yugi."

"_Grandpa!_"

Yami chuckled. It faded as he finally noticed where they were. He turned in a slow circle to take in the astonishing room, and gave a low whistle. "Nice place you've got here, Sugoroku. Guess you were right all along, huh?"

"I'm very close to wishing I weren't. By the way-- You wouldn't happen to have any Egyptian ancestors lurking in your family tree, by any chance?"

"Not that I know of. Why?"

Yugi gestured at the statue in its niche. "Take a look over there."

"The _ka_ statue? What about it?" Yami walked closer, then froze as he found himself staring at his ancient Egyptian double. "Whoa."

"Yeah. Weird, huh?"

"That... will bear closer investigation. Later." Yami strode briskly back toward the opening in the wall. "Right now, let's get out of here before Pegasus or one of his goons comes knocking."

Rustling came from within the tunnel. The three in the rock-cut chamber gaped at one another, then closed ranks. Yami placed himself between the opening and his companions. Yugi firmed his grip on his _shabti_. Sugoroku clenched his fists.

The rustling got louder... and Mahaad stuck his head out of the opening. "Everyone all right in here?"

Yugi sagged with relief, and let the statue fall from his fingers. By the time this was all over, he was going to need a vacation -- or therapy. He watched Mahaad extend a hand to help Mana through the opening. Her hand still clasped in his, they approached the others.

She beamed at Yugi. "I'm glad you aren't hurt, Yugi."

"It is not safe to remain here," Mahaad said, even as he shook Sugoroku's hand. "I am gratified to find you safe, Dr. Mutou -- and you as well, Yugi. But we must go at once. I immobilized two guards by handcuffing them to their car, but who knows how many more may still be lurking in the shadows."

"What about Pegasus?"

"He and the other guards were nowhere to be found." Mahaad shrugged. "Perhaps they fled into the desert."

A shoe sole scuffed on the stone floor at the chamber entrance. Pegasus stood there, lantern light reflecting coldly off the gun in his hand. "How foolishly optimistic. Do you really think I would abandon my treasure when I am so close to realizing my goals?"

A guard entered behind him and made a sharp gesture with his rifle to herd them all into the corner away from the tunnel. Pegasus focused on Yugi. "Where is the Millennium Puzzle?"

Yugi bit his lip, then pointed with his chin to where he'd left the Puzzle lying on the floor near the wall. Even at a distance, it was obvious the Puzzle was complete.

"Excellent! Now... Bring it to me."

Yami tried to hold him back, but Yugi gave him a look that said, as clearly as if he'd spoken aloud, _I have to do this_. He walked slowly over and picked up the Puzzle. Holding it in front of him, he turned to Pegasus. "You promise you'll let us go?"

"He won't," Yami said in a low voice. "He's insane, Yugi. He plans to sacrifice us in some kind of mad ritual to release the power he thinks is in the Items."

Clutching the Puzzle to his chest, Yugi turned imploring eyes on Pegasus. "Why are you doing this?"

"You think it's greed? Or perhaps simple lust for power?" Pegasus laughed. "I assure you, my motives are far more complicated -- and far less." He lifted the fall of white hair from his face to expose the Millennium Eye. "In a word, Yugi -- love. I'm doing this for love."

And then the Eye flared with blinding golden light -- and everything faded to black.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Yugi awoke when he was dropped roughly onto an unyielding surface. His eyes flew open as something tugged at the Puzzle he still clasped to his chest -- and Pegasus hissed in pain, jerking his hand back from where he had tried to remove the Puzzle from Yugi's grasp.

"Well," Pegasus said sharply. "It appears the Puzzle likes you, Yugi-boy. I guess that means I'll be keeping you around a bit longer than anticipated."

He stepped back, allowing Yugi to see that they were in a different room, a chamber even more opulent than the last. Lanterns had been set around the perimeter of the room, and it seemed to glow golden in the light. There was an enormous sarcophagus, even larger than the first one and carved from a single block of black granite, at the center of the chamber. It was on this sarcophagus that the guard placed a still unconscious Yami.

"Good," Pegasus said. "Now, go and get the others. We need them for the soul sacrifice."

The guard nodded and disappeared through an opening in the wall. Watching, Yugi realized it was the 'false door' behind the _ka_ statue -- not a false door at all, but a real one into the true burial chamber it concealed. Pegasus laughed at his expression.

"This is the actual final resting place of the Nameless Pharaoh." Pegasus lifted one of the lanterns so its light spilled over the golden statue of a goddess. "It is here we shall perform the final ritual."

Yugi shivered at the eager edge in the other man's voice. "What are you going to do to us?"

"Do not be sad, Mr. Mutou." The new voice was soft, feminine, and filled with a tranquility at odds with the situation.

Yugi's head jerked around to spot Isis Ishtar stepping through the open doorway. A tall, dour-faced man followed her. In his arms was a slight, unresponsive young man with a wild mass of honey-brown hair and blank, violet eyes.

"Miss Ishtar? You're a member of the cult, too?"

She offered a serene smile. "My family founded the cult. It was my ancestor who discovered this place and deciphered the mystery of the Millennium Items. For centuries, we sought the missing Items to reunite them with the Pharaoh who created them. Now, the time is finally at hand..."

Isis glided across the chamber to gaze down at Yami, lying so still on the top of the sarcophagus. He looked like an offering stretched out on a sacrificial altar. If Pegasus had his way, that's what Yami would become. Yugi was determined not to let that happen.

With surprising reverence, she brushed Yami's tousled hair back from his face. "He really is the living image of the Pharaoh." She sighed. "If only he had not rejected me, he could have ruled at my side."

The Puzzle bit into Yugi's palms as he clenched his hands into fists. "Get away from him!"

She turned to sneer at him, but the tall man interrupted. "Where should I place Lord Malik, Lady Isis?"

"Bring him here to the altar, Rashid." She helped him arrange the unresponsive boy at the foot of the granite box that housed the pharaoh's coffin.

Seeing Yugi's confusion, Pegasus said, "The boy is her younger brother. He has been in the state you see for six years, since a traumatic incident involving the death of their father."

"The Millennium Items -- and the Great Pharaoh's power -- will restore him to me," Isis said, straightening from where she had been adjusting Malik's _jalabiya_ comfortably around him. There was an unshakable conviction in her voice that Yugi found disturbing.

"Indeed," Pegasus murmured. "As that power shall restore my beloved wife and our precious child to me."

Following Pegasus gaze, Yugi's eyes widened in horror. In a wooden, mummiform coffin propped up against the wall near the entrance rested the linen wrapped form of a woman, an infant-sized mummy tucked against her side. The mummies were obviously _not_ antiquities. Yugi felt sick.

"My darling Cecelia..." Pegasus ran loving fingers over the bandage swathed face of the larger mummy. Human features were barely recognizable beneath the wrappings.

Horror rippled through Yugi. His stomach lurched and he shrank back from the sight before him. Had Pegasus mummified his dead wife and son himself?

As if he had heard the question, Pegasus continued, "I performed the ceremonies here, in the desert above. The hut served as my embalming tent. I removed the internal organs, and packed their abdominal cavities with linen and packages of natron. The desiccated organs, I placed in canopic jars formed of the finest alabaster to be watched over by the four Sons of Horus. The bodies I placed in natron for seventy days, then wrapped in pure white linen inscribed with protective spells and incantations. Then I brought them here, performed the Opening of the Mouth... Every day since that day, someone has made offerings of bread and incense and cool water for Cecelia's _ka_, and for that of our son."

Yugi swallowed hard, forcing down the bile that had risen in his throat. Pity warred with revulsion. "This is why you joined the cult. The death of your family..."

"It was an accident, you know." Pegasus one visible eye was clouded with memories. "I didn't see the cyclist until it was too late, and the car went out of control. When I awoke in the hospital…." Seeming lost in thought, he stroked the larger mummy's arm before shaking himself and continuing, "I have made all the correct preparations, performed all the spells. Now, my long wait is coming to an end. The Pharaoh's power will give me back my heart."

A sudden noise from the outer room, followed by a masculine shout and a woman's scream, grabbed their attention. Apparently, the others were awake and fighting back. Both Pegasus and Rashid rushed to the open doorway. Rashid dashed to the guard's aid. Pegasus took one look at whatever was happening in the other room and flung himself at something beside the door. He shoved at a certain point on the wall, and the door ground shut, sealing them in the burial chamber. He did something else to the mechanism beside the door, then looked smug.

"There," Pegasus said. "We won't be interrupted now."

Breathing hard, Isis nodded. "We must hurry. If Lieutenant Bahur manages to overcome the guards, he will bring reinforcements."

"Yes, we mustn't tarry," Pegasus agreed, hastening back to the makeshift altar. He stood beside the sarcophagus, one hand reaching down to retrieve a long, curved knife. "Come, Yugi. It is time for you to fulfill your destiny."

Yugi stood, paralyzed by the fear trip-hammering in his chest. His gaze was locked on the knife in Pegasus' hand as it hovered meaningfully over Yami's unconscious form. Isis moved gracefully around the 'altar', placing the Millennium Items around Yami's body. When she had laid all of the Items in place except for the Eye, and the Rod in her own hand, she hesitated.

"What are you doing?" Pegasus demanded.

She gave the Rod a sharp tug. It separated into two pieces, one of them a wicked-looking dagger. "The power of the Pharaoh belongs to the Ishtar family."

Pegasus stumbled back a hasty step. Then his expression hardened, and his own knife came up. "You double-crossing bitch! You never had any intention of keeping your part of the bargain."

Hers was the slow, liquid smile of a snake. "Neither did you."

"Of course not!" Pegasus laughed -- and the Millennium Eye flared with power. A heartbeat behind, the Millennium Rod matched it. They faced off, one at either end of the sarcophagus. Forgotten for the moment, Yugi dashed to Yami's side.

Lying atop the black granite sarcophagus, Yami was as still as the statue he resembled. Was he even alive? Yugi bit his lip, then pressed his ear to Yami's chest. He almost sobbed with relief when the strong beat sounded beneath his ear. He clutched at Yami, wrapping his arm around Yami's torso. In his other hand, the Millennium Puzzle was a solid, not-very-reassuring weight.

"Wake up, Yami! I need you to wake up now."

There was no response from Yami. What had Pegasus done to him? If it was same thing he'd done to Yugi and the others, why hadn't Yami awakened yet? Yugi shot a quick look at Isis and Pegasus. He could feel the magic raging between them, lifting the hair on his arms like the charged atmosphere before a storm. Even though the two had not moved, he did not doubt they were locked in some sort of magical combat.

He stroked his hand over Yami's cheek and jaw. "Please wake up. Please, Yami. I ...I don't want to lose you."

Fighting the fear that Yami might not wake in time -- or ever -- Yugi plastered his trembling body against Yami's. The Puzzle, trapped between them, dug into Yami's side. A golden explosion of light filled Yugi's vision.

--

"_Please wake up. Please, Yami. I... I don't want to lose you_."

Yami struggled to wake up, to respond. But something held his body in the lead grip of lethargy no matter how hard he fought it. His heart labored from the strain. Yugi needed him!

He felt Yugi's touch, felt his warm breath against his skin. He longed to put his arms around Yugi, to comfort and keep him safe.

And then he felt the sharp edge of something hard and metallic jabbing into his ribs. Heat flared from that point of contact. Agony raced like fire along his nerves. Images flooded through his mind in a confusion of color and sound, sensation and scent. His back arched off the cold stone beneath him as every muscle in his body spasmed.

Feeling as if his mind were shattering along with his body, Yami screamed.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

When the blinding explosion of light faded, Isis crumpled to the floor, keening as she cradled her singed right hand against her body. The Rod lay beside her where she'd dropped it. Pegasus was doubled over, both hands clasped over his Eye. Malik remained slumped against the side of the sarcophagus. And Yami...

Yugi stared.

Yami stood atop the makeshift altar, head held high and feet braced shoulder-width apart. Gone was his usual jeans-and-shirt combo. In its place, he wore a white linen kilt beneath a golden apron that fell to just above his knees. On his feet, gilded leather sandals replaced dusty work-boots, and jeweled bands encircled both ankles. Bracelets made of gold and semi-precious stones clasped his wrists. A wide, beaded collar lay across his shoulders, covering part of his otherwise bare chest. The Puzzle hung from a newly acquired gold chain about his neck. On his head rested the red and white Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.

His expression -- when Yugi finally tore his astonished gaze away from the spectacle of Yami in pharaonic regalia to notice it -- was very, _very_ angry.

Yami stretched out a be-ringed hand toward the Millennium Rod, and, in a commanding tone that did strange things to Yugi's equilibrium, uttered what sounded like a string of nonsense syllables.

"_Sedjem en djed medu in nebek! Iw!_"

The two halves of the Rod rose into the air and came to rest in his outstretched hands. Yami replaced the dagger into its golden sheath, then dropped it carelessly at his feet. The metal clattered against the stone lid on which he stood. He repeated the process with the Eye.

Pegasus shrieked as the Millennium Eye tore itself from his skull and returned to its true master. Blood streamed through the fingers Pegasus clutched to his face as he collapsed. Forgetting his own safety, Yugi ran to the fallen tour operator. Very quickly, he could see that Pegasus was in danger of bleeding to death if something wasn't done. "Yami! We have to help him or he'll die!"

"Let him." Yami's voice held none of the warmth Yugi had grown accustomed to hearing. The warmth that had been pooling in his abdomen evaporated as quickly as it had come. His tone hard and regal, Yami continued, "It is no more than he deserves for his trespasses."

Stunned by this sudden coldness, Yugi turned to look at the impressive figure still atop the sarcophagus-_cum_-altar. "Yami?"

"Not... entirely." Yami rubbed at his brow. When his hand encountered the rearing cobra that was a part of his crown, he assayed an irritated grimace.

"_Atem?_"

Yami looked frustrated. "Yes -- and no. It is... difficult to explain. I can feel both..." He shook his head as if to clear it. "I think I have Atem's memories now in addition to my own. It's making it hard to think clearly."

"Then... You know how to use his powers, right? All of them, not just that weird levitation thing you just did?"

A reluctant nod and another grimace. "I…think so. The memories are not-- It's like the Puzzle downloaded them directly into my brain, but…. It's almost as if I don't really know the specific memory is there until something triggers it."

"We'll figure it out," Yugi assured him. "For now, can you help Pegasus?"

The cold mask tried to settle over Yami's features once more. It shattered in the face of Yugi's pleading gaze. Yami sighed. "Very well. Because _you_ ask it."

Yami jumped nimbly down from his perch and came to Yugi's side. Kneeling, he took Pegasus' face between his hands. The Puzzle flared brightly as he intoned something too softly for Yugi to make out the words. When Yami took his hands away, Pegasus tortured writhing ceased, and his body relaxed as he slumped to the floor. When Yami relased him, Pegasus curled onto his side, his hands coming up to hide his face. Frowning, Yami started to rise.

Yugi snagged his arm, fingers curling around the gold encircling Yami's wrist. "Thank you."

Yami's expression softened, and he stroked his palm over Yugi's cheek. "For you, _mery-i_, anything."

Isis' heart-broken keening drew their attention to where she crouched beside her brother. Yugi turned imploring eyes on Yami.

Yami sighed.

--

Tears cascaded down Isis' face, but they were tears of joy. Malik hugged her, whispering over and over, "It's all right, Sister. It's all right."

It was the first time he'd spoken in six years, a fact she'd sobbed out to them before collapsing in Malik's arms. To give the siblings some privacy, Yugi tugged Yami over to the opposite side of the sarcophagus. He didn't want to go near the disturbingly fresh mummies in their box against the wall, and it didn't seem like a good idea to put Pegasus at their backs. For the moment, the man was simply lying where they'd left him, staring at the mummified remains of his wife and infant.

"What's going to happen to them?" Yugi wondered aloud.

"Pegasus and Isis will have to pay for their crimes," Yami said. At Yugi's look, he added, "They tried to kill you, _aibou_! I don't care what their reasons were, that's unforgivable. Besides, in this time, my word is _not_ law. It will be up to Interpol to deal with them."

"But, I'm okay now, and--" The thundercloud expression gathering on Yami's face made Yugi decide to change the subject. He glanced around the burial chamber, which was piled high with artifacts, many of which gleamed with gold and semi-precious stones. All of them were priceless from a historical standpoint. "What are we going to do about... all _this_?"

Yami swept a professional eye over the room and its contents. "It's the find of a lifetime, that's for sure. _Two_ lifetimes. Sugoroku's place in the history books is guaranteed -- right up there with Flinders Petrie and Howard Carter."

"Yeah, but... Is it really safe to let the whole world know about the Millennium Items and what they can do? Won't more people just try to steal them in order to gain their power for themselves?" Yugi couldn't stand the thought that the Items might make Yami a target, or that another madman might go after his grandfather.

All of the Items except the Puzzle lay on top of the sarcophagus where Yami had left them. He reached out and prodded the Ring with his index finger, a thoughtful look on his handsome face. "I don't think I can destroy them. I'm not even sure it's _possible_ to destroy them. But... I think I may be able to take away their power, at least temporarily. That could buy us some time to figure out how to deal with them."

"_No!_" Before the echoes of the shout had faded, Pegasus lunged to his feet, gun in hand. He swung the pistol up to aim at Yami's heart. "I won't let you destroy my only chance to get Cecelia back!"

Pegasus fired.

Without conscious thought, Yugi flung himself between Yami and the gun. Fire seared through him, tracing a blazing path across his shoulder and down his arm. Knees buckling, he cried out as the pain painted his world crimson. As his legs turned to water, Yugi heard Yami's deep, voice ring out with the power of an angry god.

"_Mind Crush!_"

And then the red wave crashed over him. It pulled him under….

And all was silent.


	21. Chapter 21

Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay in updating! I moved to a new house and it's taken this long to get phone service (and, thus, internet access) back, since the phone company had to lay a new line for me. Hopefully, this extra long chapter will make it up to you all.

Chapter 21

Everything in Yugi's world was made of sunshine. Golden, shimmering, filled with a gentle heat that warmed him from the ends of his curling toes to the tips of his tingling hair. (Yugi thought that was a bit odd; you weren't supposed to be able to feel your hair… Were you?) But honeyed warmth surrounded him, buoyed him up through the layers of consciousness as he rose back into full awareness, and he found it hard to care about details like "supposed to" when he'dneverfeltso_ good_ in his entire life.

A lazy smile stole across his lips as he opened his eyes to find Yami staring down at him with open worry. Yami still looked like a pharaoh, but that didn't matter because Yugi was feeling very mellow. In a soft voice, he murmured, "Hey..."

"Hey, yourself." The worry mutated into a wide grin as Yami leaned down and captured Yugi's mouth in a slow, deep kiss that added to Yugi's pleasant lethargy. "How do you feel?"

"_Mmm_." Yugi practically purred. He gave a languid stretch, like a cat sated on heavy cream, and stroked his fingers down Yami's chest. Okay, so there were definite advantages to this whole 'Yami is a reincarnated pharaoh' thing, because Yami's mostly-bare chest was a Good Thing. "_Sooo gooood_..."

Yami laughed, a bright sound filled with relief and delight. Only then did it occur to Yugi that he _shouldn't_ be feeling so good. Memory flooded back, filled with terror and guns and red-hot pain. "--Pegasus!"

"It's okay!" Yami curled protectively around him. "He's... not a threat to anyone right now. He can't hurt you."

"He tried to shoot you!" Yugi shoved Yami far enough away to give him a frantic once-over. "Did he hurt you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, love." Yami's expression did a strange dance between amusement, anger, and remembered fear. "Don't you remember? You... got in the way of the bullet."

_Oh_. _Yeah_. Without conscious thought, Yugi reached up to rub at his shoulder. The pain was only a distant memory, dissolved along with everything else in the golden warmth still pulsing through him. "Pegasus... shot me?"

As if unwilling to trust his voice, Yami nodded and buried his face against Yugi's neck. Yugi felt him tremble. "It's okay, Yami. _I'm_ okay."

"_Aibou_--" Yami's voice hitched, and his arms tightened their hold to just short of crushing.

Yugi held on until Yami regained control of his emotions. Confusion nagged at Yugi. If Pegasus had shot him, why did he feel so damn _good_? He guessed that Yami had healed him, but Yami's power hadn't seemed to have this kind of affect on the others. His face flamed as he recalled the last time he'd felt like this. That had involved Yami, too, as well as Yugi's bed aboard the _River Horse_...

A loud banging noise startled him from his reverie. He and Yami drew apart, both turning their heads to stare at the secret door. Someone pounded on it again, and a familiar voice called, "Yami! Yugi! Are you there?"

"Mahaad!" Yami sprang to his feet and hurried over to the door. "We're in here!"

"Are you all right? I cannot seem to open the door."

"Dr. Viridian?" It took Yugi a moment to place the second voice as Mai's. What was she doing here? "Can you open the door from your side?"

"Pegasus jammed it," Yugi said, joining Yami. "I'm not sure what he did to it."

"I'll take a look at it." Yami bent to examine the mechanism. "Just give me a minute."

"Yugi?" Mai called through the panel. "Is Mr. Crawford in there with you?"

"Yes. And Miss Ishtar -- and her brother Malik."

Her tone sharpened. "Are you in any danger right now?"

"No, I don't think so." Yugi glanced quickly around. Pegasus lay sprawled on the floor. His remaining eye was open, but he didn't seem aware of anything going on around him. His stupor reminded Yugi uncomfortably of the way Malik had been when the tall man had carried him into the chamber. The thought drew Yugi's gaze to Malik, who sat beside the sarcophagus, still rocking Isis as she murmured to him through her tears. "Yami... uh, took care of that."

"Got it!" Yami's triumphant exclamation coincided with the harsh scrape of stone on stone as the concealed door ground open. He glared through the opening at Mai. "Interpol, I presume."

"At your service, hon."

"You couldn't have been 'at my service' about two weeks ago and saved us all a hell of a lot of trouble?" Yami growled as she strode into the chamber, Mahaad at her designer heels.

"Things haven't exactly gone according to--" She did a double take as she got a good look at him, and subjected him to a slow scan from head to toe. "That's a new look for you, isn't it, Dr. Viridian?"

A light flush stained Yami's high cheekbones. "It's a long story." He turned to avoid her stare -- and ran smack into Mahaad's. "...Shut up."

"I did not say anything," Mahaad protested. It would have seemed more sincere without the smirk.

"You were thinking it. Loudly."

"It is a good look for you."

"_Hmph_." Yami folded his arms over his mostly-bare chest and stuck his nose in the air. "You're courting the wrath of Pharaoh, buddy."

"Oh, I am trembling..."

"Yeah, with _laughter_." Shaking his head, Yami dropped the pose. "Shut up, already!"

"Some day, I have _got_ to hear that 'long story' of yours, Doctor. The explanation for that get-up has got to be a doozy." Smothering a giggle, Mai turned to Yugi. "You okay?"

He nodded. "So, you were after Pegasus the whole time?"

"He was our top suspect," Mai said. She sauntered over to where he lay and bent down to examine him. He didn't seem capable of putting up any resistance, but she cuffed him anyway, then turned to examine the mummies in the wooden coffin against the wall. "Are these... what I think they are?"

"His wife and child," Yami said.

"_Ew_." She shook her head. "We suspected he was receiving stolen antiquities, but we had no idea he'd gone so far around the bend."

Yugi shivered, glad when Yami promptly put his arm around him. "Can we get out of here now? I think I'm going to cultivate claustrophobia, just on general principles, and I'd like to get started as soon as possible, preferrably somewhere the ceiling isn't likely to fall on me at any minute."

"There is a helicopter waiting outside," Mahaad said. "I believe there is room for all of us."

Yugi wanted to cheer ...but Yami was shaking his head. "I can't leave the tomb unguarded. I'll stay behind while you return to Aswan. Mahaad, contact the SCA and the Institute, and inform them of the find. The credit belongs to Sugoroku and Yugi Mutou. Then see if you can round up some trustworthy men to guard the tomb until the government arrives."

"Of course. I have some relatives in the area that will be happy to help."

Siegfried popped his head around the doorjamb, startling them all. "The area is secure, ma'am." He stopped just short of saluting Mai. "Your orders?"

"Get some back-up out here ASAP. We'll need a team to handle a couple of unanticipated bodies --" She gestured to the mummies. "-- and I'll need someone to take charge of Miss Ishtar's brother."

"Yes, ma'am." Siegfried departed as suddenly as he'd arrived.

Yugi looked at Mai. "Let me guess. He's not really your brother."

"No, that was just part of our cover."

Yugi shook his head. He wondered how much of what he thought he knew about his fellow tourists was true and how much had been manufactured for his benefit.

"Lieutenant Bahur, if you would be so kind as to lend me a hand?" Mai waved an elegant hand at Pegasus. "We need to get him to the chopper."

"Of course. I am glad to offer my assistance."

Between the two of them, they manhandled Pegasus to his feet and got him moving. As they neared the doorway, Mahaad hesitated. "What of Miss Ishtar?"

"That would be _my_ responsibility, I believe." Bakura stepped over the threshold, already heading for Isis and her brother. Along the way, he shot a glance at Yami. "What the hell happened to you, Viridian? You look like a Cecil B. DeMille extra."

"Bite me." Yami did a double take. "Wait. _You're_ an Interpol agent?"

"Got it in one, Pharaoh. Guess you're not just a pretty face, after all." Snickering, Bakura gave him a final, long look, then hurried over to the siblings huddled on the floor by the sarcophagus. "All right, Miss Ishtar. You'll have to come with me."

Stiffly, Isis got to her feet, reassuring Malik when the boy began to panic. Fortunately for all involved, Ryou showed up and took charge of Malik while Bakura restrained Isis. Ryou murmured something too soft to hear, but Bakura's response rang out in the still chamber. "No, I bloody well _don't_ want to look around, Ryou -- You know I hate tombs!"

Yami threw his hands up in the air. "Was _anyone_ on the damned cruise who they appeared to be?"

"Yugi was." Ryou smiled at them. "And the four from New York."

Bakura smirked. "Mai's team was assigned to Dr. Viridian from the very beginning, while I've been working on the Rex and Weevil angle for months."

"And I have been following Yugi since his arrival in Cairo," Ryou added brightly.

"Yes, and Mutou nearly spoiled the entire operation with his blundering."

Ryou reached around Malik to swat at the back of Bakura's head. "Stop that. It wasn't Yugi's fault." He smiled apologetically at Yugi. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner, Yugi. I know how worried you've been about your grandfather. I'm glad that he's all right."

A low rumble shook through the chamber, toppling a statue from its pedestal. It crashed to the floor, knocking over a stack of wooden boxes that spilled their contents in a glittering pile of gold and bright colored stones. A chunk of painted plaster detached from the ceiling and shattered against the top of the sarcophagus.

Bakura kept a firm grip on Isis with one hand. With the other, he grabbed a fistful of Ryou's shirt and towed him toward the door. "We are leaving. _Now_." He hustled them from the chamber, his voice drifting back with a final complaint. "I bloody _hate_ bloody damned tombs!"

Ryou called back over his shoulder as Bakura pulled him along. "I suggest you wait outside the tomb, Dr. Viridian. I don't think it's safe in here!"

"I'll take that under advisement."

In another minute, Yugi and Yami were alone in the burial chamber.

"Was that another aftershock?" Yugi asked as Yami stalked over to the sarcophagus and examined the Millennium Items.

"Yes." Yami glanced at him, a thoughtful frown furrowing his brow beneath the rearing cobra on his crown. "Ryou is right. It may not be safe to remain here. You should go with them --"

"I'm not leaving you!"

"Somehow, I knew you were going to say that." Yami didn't sound all that unhappy about it, despite his words. He motioned Yugi over. "We'll just have to hurry."

"What are you going to do?"

When they met his, Yami's eyes were troubled. "The Millennium Items... They were created to protect Egypt during a time of great strife. That time has largely been lost to history, but I... I remember some of it now. I know that I commanded the Items to be created, though I did not know at what cost."

"What do you mean?"

"The Items feed on human souls. For every act of power, they consume another soul. They hold many of them still, locked within the very gold from which they were fashioned." Seeing the look of horror on Yugi's face, he hastened to add, "I did not know, _mery-i_. I swear it! My priests knew I would not condone such a terrible thing, so they hid it from me. After I discovered the truth, I shattered the Puzzle so their full power could never be used again, even though it meant my own death."

Yugi shivered. "So, when you used the Items' magic to heal me and the others--?"

Yami looked uncomfortable, and he couldn't seem to meet Yugi's eye. "The power was already inside the Items. I merely called it forth."

The power… But the power of the Items came from souls. Did that mean that each act of power, each act of healing, that Yami had performed at Yugi's behest had consumed a human life? "Oh, god… Did -- did it kill someone when you healed me? Did _I_ kill someone? Yami--?"

"No!" Yami's head snapped up and he met Yugi's gaze squarely again. "No, _aibou_. The… the souls were trapped long ago. You had nothing to do with it."

"But… If a soul is consumed each time you use the Items, and you used them for me…."

Yami sighed. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you."

The guilt in Yami's voice made Yugi's frantic thoughts grind to an abrupt halt. He stopped panicking and thought about things for a moment. "No. I mean, yeah, I wish I'd known. But… I couldn't have let Pegasus die. And I wouldn't have wanted Malik to suffer any more, either."

"And I would not have let _you_ die, no matter what," Yami added firmly. "Yugi, I could have refused your requests--" He exhaled an indignant huff at the skeptical look Yugi gave him. "I_ could _have. I just… didn't want to. Any guilt that attaches to using the Items is mine, not yours."

Yugi remained unconvinced, but decided to let it go for now. "How many souls are still trapped in the Items?"

"I don't know." Yami's gaze seemed to turn inward for a moment. "Pegasus and Isis both used their Items, though without all seven together, neither of them could utilize their full potential." He sighed. "I cannot say exactly how many souls remain, but I can feel them there, in at least some of the Items."

"Can you free them?"

This time, Yami's hesitation was longer. Yugi wondered if Yami was searching his memories of his past life as Atem for the answer to Yugi's question. Finally, Yami said, "…In a manner of speaking."

That didn't sound very promising. Yugi furrowed his brow. "What do you mean 'in a manner of speaking'? Can you do it or not?"

"I can."

"But…?" Yugi prompted. "There was a distinct 'but' in that pause, Yami."

"_But_--" Yami grimaced. "--I can't _release_ them."

That sounded like splitting semantic hairs to Yugi. "What am I not getting, here?"

"I can remove the souls from the Items by invoking the magic. I can… disperse the power after I've called it forth, but I cannot release the souls from the hold the Items have over them. I can use them, remove their power from the Items, but I cannot send them on their way to a proper afterlife."

"Why not?!" Yugi wailed.

"With each use, the souls have fragmented, losing pieces of themselves. They are no longer whole, no longer entirely human. If I release them, they will be no more than angry wraiths, doomed to haunt the earth."

Yugi thought that sounded more like Atem than Yami -- or, rather, whatYugi assumed was Atem. That awful declaration that Pegasus deserved to bleed to death had to have come from the spirit of the ancient Pharaoh, accustomed to being the arbiter of life and death. Yugi couldn't -- wouldn't -- believe Yami could be so cold. And that triggered another worrisome idea. "Yami… Where did Atem's memories come from? It happened when the Puzzle touched you, didn't it? Does that mean that _his_ soul was trapped in the Puzzle?"

"I _am_ Atem, Yugi. Or, rather, I _was_. A part of me was drawn into the Puzzle when I shattered it. That part contained Atem's memories of his life as pharaoh."

"But the Puzzle released that part of his -- _your_ -- soul, right?"

"It gave me back what it took from me, yes. But I cannot reunite the stolen souls with bodies which no longer exist."

"Are you sure they don't exist? Not even as mummies?" This was Egypt, after all.

Yami gave him a Look. "Would _you_ want to be trapped inside a mummified corpse?"

_Ew_. Good point. Yugi gave it some more thought. "When you broke the Puzzle, did you believe you were destroying the Items' power forever?"

"I knew I could not destroy the Items, because I had tried. I hoped only to seal the power so that no one else could use them." Yami shrugged. "It worked, for a time. However, with Atem's _ka_ released from the Puzzle, the seal is broken. Anyone who possessed the Items could use them, if they were willing to pay the price."

Pegasus had been willing. He hadn't cared how many souls he had to sacrifice if it would bring back his family. Yugi was certain there would be others equally willing to 'feed' the Items, and with far less cause. "If you break the Puzzle now, what would happen? Would it …kill you?"

Yami lifted the Puzzle from around his neck. Cradling it in his hands, he stared into the mystic eye at its center. "I do not know."

"You can't take that chance!" Yugi wrapped his fingers around Yami's wrist as if his grip could anchor Yami to life. "I don't want to lose you!"

Yami's smile rivaled the sun. "Really?"

"Yes, _really_, you idiot!" Burying his face against Yami's chest, Yugi wrapped both arms around him as tightly as he could. "If you get yourself killed, I'll never forgive you."

"Then I'll try my best to stay alive," Yami promised. "Besides, I don't think breaking the Puzzle would be enough. The Items were scattered before, hidden. Now that they've been reunited, I'm afraid simply taking one of them apart won't do much good."

"Yeah. Okay. So... What _can_ we do?"

"Releasing the spirits will temporarily render the Items powerless, sort of like a flashlight with rundown batteries. They'll be useless to anyone who doesn't know how to 'recharge' them. That should make them safe enough until we can figure out what to do with them on a permanent basis."

"Can you do that -- release the spirits?"

"Let's hope so. Because my other plan involves chucking them into an active volcano -- and we seem to be fresh out of those, at the moment."

Not knowing what else he could do, Yugi simply stood beside Yami and offered his silent support. Yami placed the Puzzle with the other Items, then lifted his hands over them. He began to chant softly in what Yugi had finally realized must be the language of the ancient Egyptians. Gradually, the Items began to respond.

At first, Yugi thought it was his imagination painting a slight golden halo around each Item, but soon they were shining as brightly as miniature suns. Their light chased the shadows from the corners of the burial chamber, growing more incandescent, until Yugi had to throw his arm up to shield his eyes from the glare.

Unable to see, he had no warning before a terrible cacophony of shrieks and moans split the air above them. The light vanished. Yugi lowered his arm in time to see shadows erupt from the Items to fill the air with a thundercloud of writhing, wailing phantoms. None of the tortured shapes looked remotely human. All of them looked angry.

Uh-oh. This didn't look good, _at all_.

Yugi gulped as Yami grabbed his hand and took a long stride backward, away from the Items and the wraiths hovering over them. The movement drew the attention of the spirits. The writhing cloud stilled for just an instant, hovering, as if plotting its next action.

Then, with a blood-curdling scream that turned Yugi's insides to ice water, the shadowy spirits dove directly for Yami's heart.


	22. Chapter 22

Author's note: Sorry for the long delay in posting this. Real life has been rather busy and the heat (I live in the Southern US and summer is VERY hot) has made my chronic illnesses worse, so I haven't felt terribly creative. Also, I made quite a few last minute revisions to the final three chapters, which means sending them off to be beta'd again by my wonderful and incredibly patient beta readers. I am working on the final revisions for the epilogue and plan to post it and chapter 23 by the weekend. So, only two more chapters to go, folks! I hope you've enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it for you.

* * *

Chapter 22

"_Yami!_"

Yami grunted as Yugi plowed into him, taking them both to the floor and underneath the ghosts' diving attack.

Shrieking, the wraith-cloud reformed itself on the other side of the chamber. Yami saw Yugi peer at it, then turn desperate eyes on him. "Do something before they come back!"

Yami grimaced up at the young man still lying on top of him. "I'm open to suggestions!"

With a roar like a runaway freight train, the ghosts attacked again. This time, Yami wrapped his arms around Yugi and rolled, barely avoiding the tendrils of darkness that whipped at them. One struck the floor where they had been, gouging a shallow trench in the stone. Knife-sharp blades of limestone sliced at Yami's legs, leaving thin trickles of blood on his skin. The phantoms screamed in anger at the near miss. Yowling, they whipped around the chamber like a black tornado, sending priceless artifacts flying in their wake. The sounds of fury and destruction were deafening.

Panting, Yami risked a peek around the corner of the sarcophagus he had put between them and the ghosts. The wraith-cloud reformed into a writhing, compact mass at the center of the chamber. It hovered near the floor, as if sniffing at the spot where the two of them had lain. Quickly pulling back, he bent his head to whisper in Yugi's ear. "I think it's me they're after. I'll distract them while you make a run for the door."

Yugi shook his head vehemently. "I'm _not_ leaving you."

_Stubborn! Headstrong!_ Yami stared down into amethyst eyes practically brimming with determination, and found he couldn't hold on to his ire. Instead, he leaned down and planted a soft kiss on Yugi's mouth. "If you get yourself killed, _aibou_, I'll never forgive you."

Yugi favored him with a slightly crooked smile. "I won't, if you won't."

The shadowy tendrils coiled, lashed out -- and there was no more time for talking. Together with Yugi, Yami rolled away from the attack, then scrambled to his feet. Over Yugi's objections, Yami shoved Yugi firmly behind him and backed away, keeping a sharp eye on the wraith-cloud. All the while, Yami's mind churned frantically, reviewing what he knew of the contents of the chamber, trying to remember something -- _anything_ -- he could use as a weapon against the angry ghosts.

Yami stumbled over a fallen statue. He glanced down. Horus. The falcon-headed god's crown was the same as the one still miraculously perched on his own head. The sight of the golden crown triggered something buried deep in the recesses of his mind. What...?

Before the thought could fully form, he was forced to duck another attack. He grabbed Yugi and dove for cover behind a gilded wooden throne. The back of the throne was decorated with an array of rearing cobras wrought in gold. The cobras were there to protect the pharaoh from his enemies. No sooner had he thought it than the wraiths dove at him again. At the last moment, they veered off, as if deflected by something he couldn't see. Bits of shadow boiled off the main mass where it had touched the throne. Yami blinked, then stared incredulously at the cobras. _No_. He shook his head -- whether to force his brain back into some semblance of working order or to dislodge the insane ideas it was giving him, he wasn't sure. So what if the Millennium Items were real? And he was the reincarnation of an ancient pharaoh? There had to be a _logical_ explanation for--

The cobras _glowed_ as they deflected another attack.

_Damn it all to fuck_.

Yami growled. When all this was over, he wanted to have a serious talk with whoever was screwing up his reality.

Yugi's hands clutched at him. "What are you _doing_?!" he hissed, trying without success to tug Yami back under cover. "They'll _see_ you!"

If Yami had dared to take his eyes off the ghosts, he would have shot an "I'm pretty sure the fact that they keep attacking us means the evil ghosts already know where we are" look in Yugi's direction. As if was, he didn't dare. However, Yugi apparently read the intention in Yami's silence, because Yugi's open hand thumped between Yami's shoulder blades, followed by a stern, "_Stop that_."

Unfairly accused, Yami yelped. "Stop _what_?"

"Glaring at me through the back of your skull." Another thump, this time from Yugi's forehead colliding with Yami's back. "Seto does that to me all the time and I hate it!"

The surge of instant jealousy distracted Yami from the immediate crisis. "_Who_," he demanded in a dangerously level tone, "is _Seto_?"

"Look out!"

The wraiths screamed overhead like a squadron of ethereal jet fighters. Deflected from their target yet again, they banked, howling with rage, and rocketed back for another try. On the back of the throne, the cobras shone so brightly they were almost white.

A single, thin tendril broke from the main cloud. It snaked toward them, bits of it boiling off as it neared the throne. The tendril pushed forward, coiling and twining in on itself as it undulated toward its goal. Yami stared at it, mesmerized by its deadly, serpentine grace. The air around him felt heavy, charged, and tasted of ozone. Every hair on his body tried to stand on end. With a crack like thunder, the tendril whipped at him, missing his face by inches. The wall behind them exploded, showering them with bits of painted plaster.

Yami found himself face down on the floor again, this time with Yugi's weight on top of him. Shielding him. Yugi had reacted in time to save them both.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Yugi pounded on Yami's back with both fists. "Or did you not notice the evil ghost-thing trying to kill you?!"

"I noticed!" Yami yelled back. He _had_ noticed, if a bit too late. His head felt as if someone had stuffed it with overcooked pasta. Had the damned thing hypnotized him? He would have to be more careful if he was going to get Yugi out of this mess alive. Then again, maybe he should leave the job to Yugi, who seemed to be doing a better job of it than Yami was managing at the moment. "I was just a little… distracted."

"You were almost _terminally_ distracted!" Yugi stopped pounding on Yami's back and buried his face in Yami's nape. His breath was ragged. "Don't do it again."

"Yes, sir." As gently as possible under the circumstances, Yami bucked him off and rose up on his knees. "Stay here."

"…Says the man who almost got his head blasted off by a pissed-off ghost." Yugi popped up beside him. "I know you're familiar with the _theory_ of self-preservation, but have you ever considered attempting the _practice_?"

Yami stared at him.

"…_What_!" Yugi snapped.

"You're beautiful when you're being a protective asshole."

Yugi looked as if he couldn't decide whether to kiss Yami or strangle him. Yami made the decision for him, pulling Yugi close and pressing a quick but heartfelt kiss to his lips. Yugi made a noise somewhere between a moan and a growl.

Pulling back just far enough to meet Yugi's eyes, Yami smiled at him. "I have an idea."

"Am I going to like this idea, or am I going to scream at you a lot?"

Yami shrugged one shoulder. "Scream at me later -- preferably my name, in bed. Right now, do me a favor and -- for once -- keep your head down."

Yugi shook the head in question. "What are you going to--? _Yami!_"

But Yami had already leaped to his feet and run out into the center of the room. The wraith-cloud homed in on him at once. This time, Yami didn't attempt to hide. Feet braced apart, he waited with his head held high as the killer ghosts swarmed toward him.

Buzzing like angry wasps, the wraith-cloud engulfed him in darkness.

--

When the ghosts surrounded Yami, Yugi wanted to scream. But he feared the sound would break Yami's concentration, so he chewed his bottom lip ragged instead. He had no idea what the brave idiot had planned, but Yugi hoped it worked. Tearing his gaze away from the purple-black maelstrom, he shot a quick glance around the chamber. It looked like a demolition crew had been through it. Statues and storage chests lay overturned on the floor. Chunks of plaster and stone littered the floor. A huge scorch mark obscured most of the painting on one wall, almost obliterating the figure that had once stood next to the pharaoh on his barque. All that remained of the smaller figure was a pair of bare legs and a bit of white kilt.

Grandpa would have a fit when he saw the mess they had made of his find.

Yugi almost laughed at the absurdity of the idea. Maybe he would have, if he hadn't been so scared for Yami. He couldn't even see his outline inside that ominous cloud. The ghosts were writhing and twisting around him, obscuring him from view -- and doing who knew what to him in the meantime. Yugi's fingers clenched on the stone rim of the granite sarcophagus. Until that moment, he hadn't even realized he had ended up there again. He looked around for something that might help Yami, but nothing screamed '_hey, I'm ghost repellent!_' to his frantic eyes. He scrambled up onto the lid of the sarcophagus. His sneaker kicked something, and he looked down.

The Millennium Puzzle.

His heart pounding, he picked up the Puzzle and clutched it to his chest. He wasn't sure what he could do with it (besides maybe throw it at the wraiths), but if Yami needed him, Yugi would be ready.

--

Yami was on his knees. Terrible pain coursed through him, as if every nerve ending was on fire. The cobra on his brow shone with eerie ghost fire, as did the amulets worked into his broad collar and on his bracelets. He had a feeling they were the only things keeping him alive. He could feel their power wrapping around him, bolstering his own waning energies. He had to act soon or it would be too late. Unfortunately, he hadn't the faintest idea what to do next.

He had flung himself into the fray, his main thought to draw the furious spirits away from Yugi. He had hoped that his new memories -- Atem's memories -- would come to his aid as they had before. But his mind was a jumble of confusing images that meant nothing to him, and the wraiths weren't giving him a chance to sort memory from imagination. Summoning a breath despite the crushing pressure constricting his chest, he cried out, "Yugi! _Run!_"

He prayed Yugi would save himself before it was too late. In his heart, Yami knew it was a futile hope.

--

Yugi stood on the sarcophagus, his fingers strangling the Puzzle's chain in his grip. Things had gone from bad to worse, and he felt useless, standing on the sidelines. There had to be _something_ he could do!

The ghostly cloud drew in on itself, forming a tight cocoon around the figure at its center.

_Crushing him_, Yugi thought, his breath freezing in his throat. _They're crushing Yami!_

Suddenly, Yami's voice -- filled with a pain that made Yugi's heart clench -- broke from the imprisoning darkness. "Yugi! _Run!_"

_Fuck_ that, Yugi thought. He wasn't going to desert Yami. And he sure as hell wasn't going to stand by and do nothing while Yami died!

Puzzle tight in his grip, he flung himself at the murderous ghosts.


	23. Chapter 23

Author's Note: I apologize for the long delay. I truly planned and expected to be able to upload these last two chapters long before now. Unfortunately, my health did not cooperate. Lupus flares are no fun! I have been exhausted and in too much pain to finish the final revisions and post. Thanks to a lessening of the flare, and some very helpful beta readers, I finally have these chapters ready for you to read. I hope you will enjoy them.

Chapter 23

Whatever Yugi expected, it wasn't to bounce off the black cocoon that covered Yami. The ghosts had simply shrugged him off. Recalling his earlier wish for ghost repellant, he thought it highly unfair that the evil spirits apparently had some kind of people repeller.

Wincing in pain, Yugi sat up. To his horror, he saw that the cocoon was shrinking, tightening its crushing grip on the man at its center. He had to do something before it was too late!

Jaw set in determination, Yugi shoved himself to his feet. His mind raced. He was unarmed -- and, really, what kind of weapon worked on ghosts? What could he do?

Something hard and cold bumped against him. Looking down, he saw that he still held the Puzzle's chain in his hand. The pendant dangled from the heavy chain, brushing against him as he moved. He eyed it, speculations running rampant through his frantic mind. The ghosts had been trapped in the Item. They apparently retained enough sentience to feel hatred, given their attack on the Items' master. If they felt similar animosity toward the Item that had imprisoned them, perhaps he could lure them away from Yami -- even just for a moment -- with the Puzzle.

Yugi swung the chain, building momentum. With a war cry, he brought the Puzzle crashing down onto the dark shell covering Yami. "Let him go!"

He struck again -- and again, until tentacles of darkness whipped up from the main body to snatch at the Puzzle. Terror and triumph warring for expression on his face, he stumbled backward, yanking the Puzzle away from the ghosts and nearly cheering when they peeled off Yami to follow it.

"Come on," Yugi grated, spinning the Puzzle out of reach. "Come and get it! You know you want it."

Apparently, they did. The ghostly shell shattered, thick coils and thinner tendrils flaring up and out as they abandoned Yami to chase after the Puzzle. Yugi caught a quick glimpse of Yami before the icy lash of a ghost-whip across his ear forced all his attention onto escaping.

Maybe, he thought as he dove for cover behind an overturned wooden chest, his idea had worked a little _too_ well.

Unfortunately, the chest did not offer the same protection that the throne had. The ghosts swarmed around it, and Yugi barely squeaked out of their grasp. He scrambled behind a stack of clay jars larger than he was, unbalancing them. Jars crashed to the floor in a shower of rough clay shards, taking what little shelter they had offered with them. Yugi cursed.

The ghosts howled.

--

Air and light rushed back into Yami's world. He lay where the wraiths had left him, his skin prickling in the aftermath of their arctic touch. His own breath sounded harsh to his ears as he sucked air into starving lungs. The first thing he heard, beyond his own panting and the pounding of his heart, was a mighty crash and the howling of the wraiths.

_Shit_. Yami flopped onto his back. His limbs felt like overcooked spaghetti, but he forced himself to move when he saw the wraiths swarming toward Yugi.

"Get rid of the damned thing!"

For a second, Yugi looked confused. Then he swung the Puzzle's chain -- once, twice, building momentum -- and flung it across the chamber. The Item clattered against the foot of the gilded throne, power flaring as the Puzzle's magic clashed with the protective spells on the throne.

Yami's eyes narrowed. As much as he wished otherwise, he could no longer deny that the magic was real. The question now was how could he make it work for them?

His gaze darted around the room. Painted scenes of the pharaoh adorned the walls: offering to the Gods, running the circuit of the _Heb Sed_ court, slaying hippos and crocodiles in an underworld marsh, standing before Anubis for the weighing of his heart. In all of them, the pharaoh was young, powerful. In _none_ of them did he wield a Millennium Item.

What Yami needed to defeat these creatures was not the power of the Items, but the power of the Pharaoh -- the magic inherent in his past incarnation as Atem. All he had to do was figure out how to access it. And he had about two seconds in which to do it.

Piece of cake.

As if determined to prove him wrong, the wraiths swooped down on him again like a black vortex as they sought to reform their suffocating cocoon. Yami knew he could not let them regain the advantage. If they killed him, they would kill Yugi next. Yami wasn't going to let that happen.

As the wraith-cloud swirled around him, Yami reached deep inside himself for the power he had once known. Cold wrapped around him as the ghosts closed in, dark tendrils seeking to bind his body like some deadly parody of mummification.

His arms shook with the effort it took to break free, but he raised them over his head, palms outstretched as if to gather in the ghostly storm. He could see nothing but shadows, hear nothing but their infernal screeching. His lungs ached as he struggled to draw even a shallow breath. He knew he only had one chance to get this right. Blind, deaf, his body pulsing with the hammering of his heart, he could only hope he was still oriented in the right direction as he brought his arms down in a decisive gesture and aimed his power at the heart of the wraith-cloud.

The magic tore the wraiths from their suffocating hold on him and blasted them across the room -- straight at the painting of Anubis weighing the pharaoh's heart. However, it wasn't to the jackal-headed god that he threw the malignant spirits. It was to the crocodile-headed Eater of Souls, who waited to devour those whose hearts testified against them. Ammut opened her great, fanged maw and caught the phantoms in her teeth. One snap of her jaws and the condemned ghosts vanished down her gullet. It was over.

Yami sagged. He would have fallen, only Yugi was suddenly there, slinging Yami's arm over his shoulders and keeping him -- barely -- on his feet. Yugi gave him a moment to get a grip on himself before shuffling them toward the door.

"Yami?"

"Yes?"

"I didn't just see a tomb painting come to life and eat a bunch of evil ghosts who'd been trapped in seven magical objects for three thousand years... Did I?"

"Would it make you feel better if I said 'no'?"

"Yes."

"All right. No."

"But… I really did, didn't I?"

"Yes."

"_Argh_."

"That about covers it."

"Let's get the hell out of here."

"Works for me."

--

In the end, Yami discovered he couldn't navigate the narrow passageways while wearing full pharaonic regalia. He attempted to use his newfound powers to return his clothing to normal -- apparently, the magic had transformed his dusty cotton shirt and khakis into gold and linen -- but could not figure out how to go about it. Like his tangled memories, his new abilities were fickle and seemed to have their own agenda. Removing the Double Crown, he abandoned it in an antechamber along with his golden apron and bull's tail belt.

Yami also learned that Yugi could be tricky when he wanted. After catching Yugi daydreaming rather than crawling along the thieves' passage, Yami realized exactly why Yugi had insisted he go first -- it had something to do with the short linen kilt Yami still wore, and the relative skimpiness of ancient Egyptian undergarments.

After that, Yami made Yugi go first... and spent a little quality fantasy time of his own.

--

With Yami's arm once more around his shoulders, Yugi staggered the last few steps down from the rocky outcropping beneath which the lost tomb of the no-longer nameless pharaoh lay buried. The sun was inching over the horizon, dispelling the shadows and warming the earth as it was reborn. Yugi felt a little like he had been reborn as well: he had gone through an ordeal in the underworld, only to emerge with his prize.

He turned his head and smiled at Yami.

Handsome face liberally smeared with dust and sweat, auburn hair spiked up in strange directions from being crammed under that crown, and bare knees scraped from crawling through the rubble-littered tunnels, the Egyptologist still managed to look as if he belonged in the linen kilt and gold finery of a pharaoh. A stray image from his dream of Yami-as-Pharaoh wandered across Yugi's mind, whistling nonchalantly and making suggestive gestures at his libido. Yugi felt a flush start somewhere in the vicinity of his toes and rush upward.

"What are you thinking, love?"

Yugi's smile widened into a full-fledged grin. "Say it again."

For a second, Yami looked confused. Then his own grin blossomed. "My love. _Mery-i_. _Habibi_. _Koibito_." A thoughtful pause. "I can say it in a few other languages, if you like. What would you prefer? German? French? Swahili? Macaroni-ese?"

"..._Macaroni-ese?_"

"The official language of Noodletopia, home of the Evil Noodle Overlord," Yami said, in what Yugi considered a far-too-reasonable tone of voice, and winked at him. "It's a long story. I'll tell you about it sometime, if you promise to stay with me long enough to hear the whole thing."

Yugi gave him a suspicious look from underneath his bangs. "And just how long would be 'long enough'?"

"Oh... the rest of our lives ought to do it."

"Oh." Yugi gave this the careful consideration it deserved. "I'm not sure. What if we need more time?"

Yami's smile rivaled the rising sun. "Then, I guess we'll just have to stay together forever, _aibou_."

"I think I can live with that," Yugi said, and pulled Yami down into a fierce kiss.


	24. Chapter 24

Epilogue

In Yugi's opinion, Mahaad's men had lousy timing.

Granted, Yugi had been in danger of getting sand into places he would have later regretted, but at the time, it had definitely seemed worth the risk. Unfortunately, the men's arrival sent Yami into full archaeologist mode, and he had barely taken the time to straighten his kilt before launching into instructions to the men who would be guarding the tomb until the representatives from the government got there. He cautioned them not to enter the tomb, as the "earthquake damage" had made it unsafe. (They had decided earlier that "earthquake damage" sounded far less crazy than "evil ghostly rampage.")

Held up assisting Interpol, Mahaad had been unable to return with his men. However, he had placed his driver at their disposal. Yugi and Yami gratefully accepted the man's offer of a ride back to Aswan, where they could clean up, eat, and procure lodgings for the night. Both were too tired even to contemplate the long trek back to Luxor. Yugi had doubled over laughing at Yami's effusive thanks to the driver when the man produced the pants and shirt Mahaad had sent. Much to Yugi's disappointment, Yami immediately changed out of his pharaonic clothing, though necessity dictated he retain the ancient Egyptian underwear. That image was enough to sustain Yugi on the long, kidney-jarring drive back across the desert.

Many tedious hours later, Yugi and Yami found themselves sharing a simple hotel room in Aswan. Yugi barely noticed the furnishings beyond a vague impression of outdated colors and worn surfaces. The bulk of his attention focused on his companion, who had just stepped out of the shower, still glistening with moisture. The sight of the water droplets clinging to all that bare, golden skin combined with the knowledge that he could so easily have lost Yami forever back in that tomb was a one-two sucker punch to Yugi's self-control and libido. Self-control went down without a fight. He dropped the phone -- he had intended to call Seto to let him know that they had made it out alive -- and crossed the room at a run. He collided with Yami with enough force to knock him onto the bed, following him down and planting a solid kiss on his open mouth before Yami could do more than exhale a faint "_umph!_" in surprise.

When Yugi finally released him, Yami -- who had wrapped both arms around Yugi to hold him in place and who was panting just as hard as Yugi -- blinked somewhat dazed eyes up at him, and said, "It's later. I thought we were going to talk."

Yugi knew that they needed to. They had a lot to figure out if they wanted to make this thing between them work, not the least of which was what to do about their divergent careers and lifestyles. At the moment, none of it seemed terribly important. All that mattered was the feel of Yami's skin beneath his questing fingertips and the pounding of Yami's heartbeat against his chest.

"Can't it be 'later', later?" Yugi asked, his eyes wide and pleading.

Beneath him, Yami groaned. "I am _never_ going to win an argument with you, am I?"

Yugi leaned down and kissed him again. "What do _you_ think?"

"I am _so_ screwed."

"_Not yet_," Yugi breathed, and leaned down to capture his lover's mouth once more.

Yugi nipped at Yami's lips until he parted them and allowed Yugi's tongue to invade his mouth. Yami moaned and arched his body up to meet Yugi's, while Yugi's tongue stroked his pallet and tasted every part of Yami's mouth it could reach. Yami tasted of the mint tea he had consumed earlier, sweet and sharp. There was no battle for dominance; rather, they fit together as equals, partners. It was as if their souls had known one another before, and now their bodies were learning each other anew. When they finally came up for air, both were panting. Yugi breathed in the scent of the harsh hotel soap still clinging to Yami's skin, along with the faint masculine musk of sweat.

"Too many clothes," Yami complained, freeing a hand from where it tangled in Yugi's hair to tug at his t-shirt. "Off!"

"You really must have been Pharaoh," Yugi huffed, then grinned at Yami's confused expression. "You like ordering me around."

"I do not!" The sly expression in Yami's eyes belied the denial. "Is it so wrong to want you naked?"

Well, no. In fact, just the notion that Yami wanted him naked sent a hot spark shooting through Yugi's body to lodge in his abdomen. Braced on his elbows, he pressed his body against Yami's, reveling in the feel of lean, hard muscles and long limbs beneath his own, more compact body. It was a sensation he wouldn't mind having more often. It was also, his mind supplied in a flash of inspiration, a sensation that would be vastly improved by the removal of not only _Yugi's_ clothing, but also of the rough towel still draped around _Yami's_ hips.

Yugi sat up to put his brilliant plan in motion. Yami's murmur of protest as he moved away turned into a hum of approval when Yugi swept away the towel, then yanked off his own shirt. He tossed the shirt onto the floor and found Yami's hands already tugging at his boxers. Yugi flopped obligingly onto his back and let Yami divest him of his remaining clothing. Yami's fingertips teased the bare skin of Yugi's thighs as he slid the boxers free and, in spite of the heat, Yugi shivered.

"All right?"

Yugi looked up into concerned brown eyes, arched into the strong hand that returned to caress his flank, and hissed, "_Yesss_."

Yami's concern morphed into visible delight. He resumed his exploration of Yugi's exposed body, each light caress igniting a comet-trail of pleasure beneath Yugi's skin. Yugi rolled onto his side, propping himself up on one elbow so he could loop an arm over Yami and stroke his palm from Yami's nape to his hips. Yami expressed his approval by leaning into Yugi and tasting a particularly sensitive bit of skin where Yugi's neck met his shoulder. He bit gently, teasing, sucking until Yugi arched into him, eyes falling shut at the delicious sensations.

Yami, Yugi decided when he could think again, had some rather clever ideas of his own. Then Yami tilted his hips just _so_, and their bodies came together with a delicious friction that wiped all other considerations from Yugi's mind. A second later, when Yami's hand found its way between them and curled around Yugi's erection, he nearly levitated off the bed. "_Yami_!"

Yami made a faint, breathless sound that might have been a chuckle. "Yes, _aibou_?"

"Do that again!"

This time, there was no mistaking the deep laugh that rumbled in Yami's chest as he obliged. "You sure _you_ weren't the pharaoh?"

"You--" Annoyance scattered like confetti in the wind when Yami made a twisting, sliding motion with his hand, and every nerve ending Yugi possessed informed him this was A Very Good Thing. He clutched at Yami's shoulders and, in a husky voice, groaned, "Shut up and kiss me, you royal idiot."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Hey, _I'm_ not the-- _mmph_!" Yugi suddenly found his mouth otherwise occupied in mid-protest, but somehow couldn't bring himself to care. He melted into the kiss. "_Mmm_."

Heat suffused Yugi's body, the same golden warmth he had felt back in the tomb when Yami healed him. Everywhere that Yami touched him seemed to come alive with desire. Yugi's eyes flew open in surprise. "Yami!"

"Hm?" Yami sounded distracted, not bothering to look up from lavishing tender kisses on Yugi's chest. He seemed determined to kiss every inch of Yugi's skin -- a noble goal, to be certain, and one Yugi was reluctant to divert him from. But--

"I can feel your magic," Yugi whispered, awed by the concept, and dropped his head back to give Yami better access. The touch of Yami's hands, his lips, his magic… It all felt so_ gooood_.

Yami froze, hands sliding away from Yugi's body. He raised his head and stared at Yugi. "_What_?"

"Your magic. I can feel it when you touch me." Yugi frowned. He really hadn't meant for Yami to _stop_. Unfortunately, Yugi had a tendency to blurt out whatever thought popped into his head when he was sufficiently distracted -- and Yami was very good at distracting him. "Can we finish this conversation later?"

"You started it," Yami pointed out. Yugi hated it when he used that oh-so-reasonable tone.

He not-pouted up at his lover. "Yami, now is _not_ the time to be logical."

Yami, however, wasn't swayed. "What do you mean you 'felt my magic'?"

"Like before, when you healed me, back in the tomb." Yugi sighed. Looked as if they were going to have this conversation after all. "You said you used the Items' power, but you don't have any of them now, and the magic feels the same."

Yami's brow furrowed as he gave the matter serious consideration. "I can barely accept that magic exists, much less that I possess it. I still can't really control it, and I have very little idea how it works. Maybe…" He fell silent for a moment, obviously thinking hard. Finally, he gave a minute shrug. "I don't know, Yugi. Maybe my… magic… just didn't trust the Items to help you without a little supervision. Right now, it seems to be mostly responding to my emotions…"

The crease between Yami's brows deepened. "The magic… It didn't hurt you, did it?"

"No!" Yugi could feel his cheeks burning. He was in bed with the man, naked and flushed with passion, and Yami could still make him blush. Because, while Yugi might babble _during_ sex, but he didn't like to talk _about_ it. "You didn't hurt me. In fact, it, uh… It feels …nice."

A rather smug expression stole across Yami's face. "Yeah?"

"Um. _Yeah_…" Yugi drew out the second word, ducking his chin and hiding behind his bangs. He looked up through his lashes. "_Really_… nice."

Yami's smug look blossomed into a full-blown grin. "Maybe this magic thing isn't so bad, after all," he murmured, then lowered his head to take Yugi in his mouth. Yugi gasped and arched, hands flailing for a moment before fisting in the sheets.

"_Gngh_!" Yugi panted, thrusting up before Yami's hand caught his hip and held him still. Sparks flew across his closed eyelids, followed by a golden heat that started in his center and spilled out to fill every cell of his body, searing away all thoughts of "how" and "why."

Then Yami did something with his tongue -- and his magic -- and all Yugi knew was heat, and Yami, and a cresting wave of pleasure that stole even incoherent thought.

--

Some time later -- hours, days, Yugi wasn't quite sure and, in his hazy satisfaction, didn't much care -- he snuggled against Yami's side and prepared to drift off to a blissful sleep.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, something stirred, disturbing his contentment. _Huh?_

_I'm glad you're alive, Mutou_, grated Seto's "voice" in Yugi's head. _Because when you get back to Japan, I'm going to _kill_ you_.

Seto sounded like he might actually mean it this time, but it would take more than mental death threats to burst Yugi's bubble. …_'kay_.

_Are you even listening to me? _Seto demanded, then answered his own question without waiting for Yugi to respond. _No, of course not. You're barely even awake. _Now_. When it's not going to do _me_ any good. Well, don't say I didn't warn you, because I _will_ have my revenge. When you get back to Japan, I'm going to swap every tube of hair gel you own with depilatory and-- Mutou? Do you hear me? Mutou!_

But Yugi had ceased to listen. Too busy basking in the afterglow, and in Yami's warm presence beside him, to do more than drift into peaceful dreams, that was exactly what he did.

--

Yami wasn't sure what had woken him from a satiated sleep. He lay for a moment without moving, feeling the warm presence curled up beside him. Yugi had wrapped himself around Yami in his sleep, an action Yami found he heartily approved of. In fact, he would be content to wake up with Yugi like this for the rest of their lives.

He was about to tuck his free arm more firmly around Yugi and go back to sleep when a strange sense of foreboding washed over him. Yami shivered, suddenly wide eyes searching the gloom. What…?

Then he saw them. Tendrils of shadow, blacker than the surrounding darkness, creeping toward the bed from every corner of the room. They coiled and writhed like ethereal snakes twining through the air. Uncomfortably reminded of the wraiths in the tomb, Yami stared at the encroaching darkness. His breath caught in his throat as every hair on his body stood on end. The air took on the heavy, actinic taste he had come to recognize as the presence of magic. Heart pounding, he tightened his arms around his still-sleeping partner.

"_Yugi?_" He kept his voice low, hoping not to draw the attention of the shadows. Their progress remained slow but steady, seeming to gain confidence as they drifted nearer to the bed. "Yugi, wake up. I think… I think we need to get out of here. _Now_."

"Huh?" Yugi blinked sleepy eyes at him and tried to stifle a huge yawn. "_Wha_-? Yami?"

"_Aibou_, we--"

The shadows surrounded the bed. Thick tendrils lapped at the air above them, like the tongue of a snake tasting their scents. Yami wished his brain would stop with the reptilian metaphors already, because it was all too easy to imagine one of those tendrils striking like a cobra and sinking shadowy fangs into--

As if triggered by the thought, one of the tendrils whipped at Yugi. Black coils wrapped around him, pinning him to the mattress as more shadows poured onto the bed to aid their comrade. Before Yami could even move, they had completely covered Yugi in a dense ebon pall, hiding him from sight.

"_No!_ Yugi!" Yami forced himself to think past the horror that tried to freeze him in place. With no thought for his own safety, he shoved his hands into the mass of shadows covering Yugi and found… nothing. Even as he scrabbled frantically at the sheets, the shadows dissipated, blowing away like mist on a non-existent wind. Alone on the bed, Yami stared at the wrinkles in the sheet that were the only indication Yugi had lain there only seconds before.

"_Aibou_…" Yami clutched the sheet, pulling it up to his face. The faint, clean scent of Yugi's skin clung to the worn fabric. He inhaled deeply, fighting for control as his emotions threatened to overwhelm him. _Grief, anger, fear_ -- His eyes burned with unshed moisture as he crushed the sheet in his fists. He could not let his fear for Yugi prevent him from acting.

Yami raised his head, unaware of the golden "eye" gleaming in the center of his forehead. A fierce resolve filled him. Magic had taken Yugi from him.

No matter what it took, Yami was going to get him back.

The End

(To be continued in the sequel, "Reflections in the Nile", coming soon.)

Author's Note: Please don't kill me. I rewrote this epilogue so many times it isn't funny... and this is the way it had to end. I will start posting the sequel soon-ish. I currently have four other Yugioh novels in the works, not counting "Chariots of the Gods" (the fanfic that ate my brain), but if there is enough demand, I will move "Reflections in the Nile" to the head of the queue. In the meantime, Kitt Yuehana has some fanfic for "Shadows on the Nile" posted, so be sure to check out her profile (look under my favorites for the link) for a cute "prequel" story.

Ankh, udja, seneb, y'all. ;)


End file.
